A Frequent Question: "Will My Kids Keep Our Faith?"

So many deep in the faith, any faith, wonder what will happen to their children. Different religious cultures handle the faith of their children differently.

Some Orthodox Jews disown and shun children who marry outside their faith. I once knew a deep Catholic man who was angry at another man in his church. The other fellow's son dropped out of the local Catholic school and attended a public school. "When a child lives under the parents' roof, he goes to their school."

The link quotes parents from a variety of religions. All the parents, however, live in the U.S. These parents seem to have embraced our contemporary culture practice of accepting whatever children decide. They know the likelihood their children will not be religious and are more or less resigned to accept the new development. I suppose in most of these cases the parents feel they followed the religious practice of their parents and expected their children to do the same.  

I suppose in all religions there are parents and relatives who shun and disown those who leave the faith. That happened a lot, still happens, with children who are gay or trans. The wonderful thing is that the entire culture in the U.S. has not gone over to this side of crazy--that there is still some balance and tolerance for those who do not follow in the faith or faiths. That said, there is a perception people are less tolerant of liberal versus conservative political views. No one has proved this is the case. 

There is a case to be made for leaving your children alone to figure out religion for themselves. If this were taken to the extreme and a child wanted to go to church (or to a Pagan picnic) should a parent always say yes or always say no? I like the compromise where the parent tells the child his/her views but urges the child to explore and decide for itself.