Summary
The most important influence shaping the religious and spiritual lives of children, youth, and teenagers is parents. Yet little research has studied this link in the intergenerational transmission of religion between generations. This text reports the findings of a new, national study of religious parents in the United States. The findings are based on 215 in-depth, personal interviews with religious parents from many traditions and different parts of the country; and on analyses of two nationally representative surveys of American parents. Unlike many studies that focus only on mainstream Christianity, this book reports on parents from a wide range of traditions: mainline Protestant, Catholic, evangelical, black Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist, and Hindu.