Nearly two-thirds (73%) of all U.S. parents say they are concerned when it comes to their “child’s / children’s spiritual development,” according to a Barna Group report published March 30.
Of this total, 37% are “very” and 36% are “somewhat” concerned, while 15% are “not very” and 12% “not at all” concerned.
Practicing Christians were most likely to be “very” concerned (51%), with 33% “somewhat,” 9% “not very” and 7% “not at all” concerned. Among all Christian parents, the responses were 42%, 38%, 13% and 7%, respectively.
Practicing Christians are defined in the report as “self-identified Christians who have attended a worship service within the past month and strongly agree their faith is very important to their life.”
Parents from other religious traditions were the least likely to be concerned, with 27% “very,” 31% “somewhat”, 18% “not very” and 25% “not at all” concerned.
The same pattern was seen when respondents were asked if they were concerned “about whether [their] child / children will stay true to their spiritual faith.”
Practicing Christian parents were most likely to be concerned (58% “very” and 28% “somewhat”) and non-Christian parents were least likely to be concerned (13% “not very” and 32% “not at all”).
The national average of all parents was 38% “very,” 32% “somewhat,” 15% “not very” and 15% “not at all” concerned that their children’s faith / spirituality would endure.
The full report is available here. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.
Managing editor for news and opinion at Good Faith Media.
