A new report by Olwyn Mark for Theos, Passing on Faith explores these very issues. One striking headline statistic is that of over 1000 people surveyed in a ComRes poll in 2016, around two-thirds did not feel it was important to them that their children would grow up to share the same faith or belief position as themselves, and about the same proportion thought that children should 'make up their own minds independently of their parents'. Even where parents did hope that children would share their beliefs, and were confident that they could talk to their children about faith without being coercive, many also felt that their contribution was likely to be less influential than peers or social media (1)
Back in the late 1960s, the US anthropologist Margaret Mead argued that one of the most significant cultural changes of the century was the shift from a 'co-figurative' society (which expects parents to pass on norms, values and wisdom to their children whilst also learning from their children) to a 'pre-figurative' society (in which elders do not expect to have any useful wisdom or values to pass on to their children (1). A fully 'prefigurative' society has not really materialised (we still learn from our elders in all sorts of different ways, and the idea of a society where norms and values are primarily forged by each successive generation of young adults now seems as much a product of a particular moment of youth revolt as it does anything else), but it remains the case that a significant shift took place in post-war Britain towards a more laissez-faire attitude towards the transmission of norms and values to succeeding generations (2).
The report, which reviews a wide range of literature on the transmission of faith raises a number of interesting and important questions: what counts as a morally legitimate contribution towards the shaping of young people's norms and values, and what counts as problematic coercion? As a society, are we consistent on the degree to which we are happy to influence our children or to leave them to make up their own minds? (what would it mean to apply to advertising or to aspects of schooling the same ethical criteria that we apply to religious or philosophical belief)? Does the problem of passing on faith, norms and values look different for a cultural or religious minority than it does for the majority whose norms and values tend to hold sway within society anyway? Are 'passing on faith' and 'letting them decide for themselves' mutually exclusive positions or is it possible to do both at the same time?
For those who do hope that their children will come to share their values, the report concludes with a review of research findings into what does actually tend to lead children to adopt a particular position or tradition which is also shared by their parents. This report will be helpful reading for anyone who wants to think about 'through-life discipleship' in a way which is generous and invitational rather than coercive.
Notes:
(1) Olwyn Mark, Passing on Faith (Theos 2016)
(2) Margaret Mead, Culture and Commitment: A Study of the Generation Gap (1967)
(3) Ian Jones, The Local Church and Generational Change in Birmingham 1954-2000 (Boydell and Brewer/Royal Historical Society, 2012)