"Its no surprise that younger people in the U.S. are less religious than their parents generation. But a new study released today by the Pew Research Center shows precisely how influential parents are when it comes to their kids religious views.
Heres the bottom line: Kids share their parents views on religion. Thats especially true of evangelicals and non-religious parents, less so for Mainline Protestants and Catholics. But when theres any kind of break, those kids run the hell away from organized religion.
Look at that line for Catholics! When kids leave Catholicism, they dont just become some other kind of Christian. They leave religion for good. Among Mainline Protestants in general, some kids who leave their parents church become evangelicals, but many more leave Christianity altogether.
Keep in mind the teens in this study are 13-17. This is what theyre saying when theyre still living with their parents. The move away from organized religion will only get faster as they gain more independence. "
source
Heres the bottom line: Kids share their parents views on religion. Thats especially true of evangelicals and non-religious parents, less so for Mainline Protestants and Catholics. But when theres any kind of break, those kids run the hell away from organized religion.
Look at that line for Catholics! When kids leave Catholicism, they dont just become some other kind of Christian. They leave religion for good. Among Mainline Protestants in general, some kids who leave their parents church become evangelicals, but many more leave Christianity altogether.
Keep in mind the teens in this study are 13-17. This is what theyre saying when theyre still living with their parents. The move away from organized religion will only get faster as they gain more independence. "
source
Note that of the four categories, Main Line Protestants have the loosest grip on their kids while the Unaffiliated have the greatest grip.
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