Keeping the faith at home [View all]

[rug]

Even if families don't belong to an organized religion, instilling spirituality in children still matters

By William Hageman, Tribune Newspapers
August 28, 2012

We are a nation of believers. Mostly. A Gallup poll last year found that 91 percent of Americans believed in God or some universal spirit. Yet a more recent poll by WIN-Gallup International and published by Religion News Service found that the number of Americans who say they are "religious" dropped from 73 percent in 2005 to 60 percent today. And in that poll, 5 percent of Americans said they are atheists, up from 1 percent in 2005.

Believing in God doesn't necessarily translate to belonging to an organized religion. And parents who do not belong to a religious institution, as well as those who don't believe in a higher power, are faced with a difficult question: How do they instill spirituality and faith in the children?

Kara E. Powell, assistant professor of youth and family ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., says parents need to make themselves available to talk about spirituality and religion at home. They should be extra diligent in making faith a topic that can be discussed so that children won't be confused or ashamed about any observations or questions they might have. Even if there is no organized religion in the home, she says, religious holidays such as Easter and Hanukkah and their rituals can be one of the entry points into the discussion.

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Dale McGowan, editor and co-author of "Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion" (AMACOM), is an atheist. He gets his kids to think about the implications of evolution. "One of the fun things is to chase it as far as you can," he says. "Tell them it's nice to take a walk in the woods, but it's a different experience when you realize you're related to those trees. We're related to our dog, we're related to our front lawn. Most of these are spiritual realizations."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/life/ct-x-0822-faith-children-20120828,0,7070927.story?page=1