Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Christianity has declined over the past 40 years. According to a recent study released by church-consulting organization Communio, the collapse of marriage and absent fathers have contributed to this decline in the United States.
What the Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships (PDF – 24 pages) measured is what most of us intuit: fatherless homes are inherently unstable homes.
Children are better off physically, emotionally, and economically when raised in homes with their married biological parents. Children in fatherless homes face a higher risk of physical and sexual abuse. They tend to graduate at a lower rate, get pregnant out of wedlock, and end up in the juvenile justice system. A majority of prisoners grew up in fatherless homes.
Is it any surprise that the practice of faith declines in fatherless homes?
“Family decline appears to fuel faith decline…Family structure changes appear to explain the differences in religious behavior among the different generational cohorts.”
More from the study:
Overall, the survey found 80 percent of all Sunday church attendees in the United States grew up in a continuously married home with both biological parents at a time where this is becoming increasingly rare. This trend held across age groups and was visible among young adults.
Less than half of all adults under 30 grew up living with married parents, according to the study.
Yet, 80 percent of all Sunday churchgoers ages 25-29 who were never-married, grew up in a continuously married home. In this age group, 87 percent, or nearly 9 out of 10 of all never-married men in church on Sunday grew up in a continuously married home.
Did it all begin with the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s? The stigma against sex before and outside marriage began to wane, and now more babies are born outside marriage. Out-of-wedlock child-rearing and divorce have transformed the family — especially the black family.
Though the study doesn’t break out statistics on race, we know that black children are more likely to grow up in households without fathers. Men who are not living with their children are less involved with their lives.
These fathers are, statistically speaking, much less likely to become the archetypal “authoritative father” who generates optimal parenting outcomes for their children.18 An authoritative father is one who develops parenting relationships with a healthy balance between closeness and warmth as well as the instruction and discipline that is firm but not overly coercive.19 [emphasis added]
The study posits that unmarried fathers don’t produce parenting styles that “both lead to human flourishing and adequate faith modeling and formation.”
J.P. DeGance, president of Communio, told the Christian Post that young people are not leaving churches because of lack of ministry outreach.
To reverse the declining Christianity trend, we need more marriage. From the study (emphasis added):
To evangelize fruitfully in the twenty-first century, we must reverse the declining number of marriages, improve marital health, and increase the effectiveness of fathers in those marriages. By addressing these three issues, we can spark a sustained revival in Christian faith and active church attendance.
Photo credit: American Life League
