From the Progressing Spirit - Robin Meyers

Q: By Gretchen

Many children today are being raised without a religious affiliation because their parents believe they should choose their own beliefs when they're older. If this trend continues, could the church eventually lose relevance for future generations?

A: By Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers

Dear Gretchen,

As someone who was taken to church as a child and given a certain religious affiliation and understanding, I ended up departing from that tradition and choosing my own.  But I had a tradition to depart from, so I had a foundation for my decision.  I understood what I was leaving and why.  

Parents who raise their children in their faith tradition should think of it as an inheritance, not a life sentence.  But being grounded in a tradition can be a good thing, even if as adults we reject it or choose a different path—or no path.  For one thing, it helps children to understand their own parents better, and why religious communities mattered to them.  If they were born Methodist, for example, and remained Methodist, was it because they had considered other options but felt comfortable where they were, or were they just pleasing their parents, or trying to conform to social pressure and community norms?  

If children reach adulthood without any experience of organized religion, both for its benefits and failures, how do they “choose” their own beliefs as an adult?  They can adopt a value system, of course, and it need not have anything to do with religion.  But the chances that they would choose a faith community to belong to and contribute to are greatly diminished.  In that case, the decline of the church would indeed accelerate.  

There is plenty of blame to go around for the widespread decline in church attendance.  But at least one important reason is that because we fear choosing for our children, we assume that they will make informed decisions later without any real information.  They will express a preference without any basis for comparison.  

Some progressives find it better to provide no specific religious instruction at all.  But when it comes time for us to choose, we’re not sure why it matters that we choose at all.  It’s not my experience that kids who were dragged to Sunday School are being set up to exit the church, so much as the experience they have of adults acting like hypocrites, saying one thing but doing another.    

~ Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers
Read and share online here

About the Author
Rev. Robin R. Meyers, PhD, is pastor of First Congregational Church of Norman, Oklahoma, after serving 35 years as Senior Minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church of Oklahoma City.  He is Distinguished Professor of Social Justice Emeritus in the Philosophy Department at Oklahoma City University, where he teaches public speaking and ethics.   He is the best-selling author of eight books about religion and American culture, a fellow of the Westar Institute (home of the Jesus Seminar), a newspaper columnist, and a commentator for NPR.  Recently named a trustee of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Robin is married to Shawn Meyers, MFA, an artist and retired professor, and they are the parents of three children, Blue, Chelsea, and Cass, and grandparents to three remarkable granddaughters, Iris, Hazel, and Eleanora.

We are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. Our authors would love to hear what you have to say! Please Click on the Comments Section at the bottom of each article. 

Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook!