Study Indicates Left-Leaning Parents Better at Transmitting Values

Are left-leaning dad and mom higher at passing on their values to their kids? The outcomes of 1 latest research appear to point that they’re, particularly for his or her daughters. But there’s a greater clarification, one articulated millennia in the past by God’s Word.

According to a 2023 poll by the Survey Center on American Life, 62% of U.S. adults raised by Democratic dad and mom had been Democrat, whereas 57% of U.S. adults raised by Republican dad and mom had been Republican. The general partisan hole is substantial, however not big; nonetheless, it grows a lot bigger amongst girls aged 18 to 29.

Among the youngest group of U.S. adults, 69% of males and 73% of girls raised by Democrats are Democrats, whereas 67% of males and solely 44% of girls raised by Republicans are Republicans.

Put one other manner, solely 27% of younger girls raised by Democratic dad and mom are usually not Democrats, whereas 56% of younger girls raised by Republican dad and mom are usually not Republican.

“Why are those who vote Democrat seemingly better at passing on their values?” asked Family Research Council senior fellow Joseph Backholm on “Washington Watch” on Friday. “And why are young women so much more likely to reject the values of their more conservative parents?”

Left-Wing Cultural Dominance

One prepared clarification is that left-leaning dad and mom “have a lot more help,” urged David Closson, director of the Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview. “Every single cultural institution in this country is a cheerleader for progressive causes,” he defined. “If you’re … hearing values that are taught at the home also reinforced online, … in the movies that you watch, and the music that you listen to—it’s the same values that are taught in the schools that you go to—I’m not at all surprised.”

This cultural clarification underscores the truth that the underlying difficulty just isn’t an individual’s political allegiance, however her worldview. “From a Christian worldview,” Backholm stipulated, “our goal is not to get somebody to join a political party. But we know that these lines mean something.” Under President Joe Biden and his administration, the Democratic Party has hardened its positions in favor of abortion and the LGBTQ agenda, positions that contradict the Bible’s educating about God’s created order.

On the opposite hand, due to the cultural dominance of left-wing concepts, “those of us who are theologically conservative Christians—the beliefs that we hold are no longer just seen as outdated or a little ‘old school,’ but increasingly, they’re seen as subversive and dangerous,” famous Closson. Prevailing cultural voices keep that biblical viewpoints on sexuality, marriage, and life are “not even polite conversation” and “shouldn’t be in the public square.”

The ideological dimension helps clarify why younger girls skew additional to the left than younger males: The dominant ideology is radical feminism, with a aspect of queer idea. Closson shared three components that improve a younger girl’s leftward tendencies. First is LGBT identification; amongst Generation Z, girls are twice as probably as males to determine as LGBT, and those that so determine robotically skew to the left.

The second difficulty is abortion. “The pro-abortion lobby, regretfully and tragically, has been very effective in talking about … women’s rights,” admitted Closson. Third is a university training: Women raised by Republican dad and mom are solely half as prone to determine as Republican if they’ve a four-year diploma. (What do you assume faculties are educating them?)

A fourth issue to clarify the man-woman political divide addresses the explanation why younger males are usually not extra left-leaning. Backholm quoted his 19-year-old daughter’s fast response, “Well, progressives hate men. Why would they want to be one?” Beware the backlash of indignant younger males rejecting the oppressive humiliation of feminist ideology. God instructed the primary girl, “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16), and that dynamic has persevered all through human historical past.

Christian Pedagogy Insufficient

Returning to the primary level, American Christians in 2024 are in a cultural wilderness. We look like strolling fossils or legendary monsters. Our strangeness earns us notoriety and enmity, but in addition a glad reception among the many remnant “appointed to eternal life” (Acts 13:48).

God’s individuals have been right here earlier than. Before God introduced the kids of Israel into the Promised Land, he warned them to not make a covenant with the pagan idolaters who inhabited the land, “lest it become a snare in your midst” (Exodus 34:12). They had been to not intermarry and even eat with them, lest they fall into idolatry themselves (Exodus 34:15-16). This precise state of affairs got here to move earlier than Israel even entered the Promised Land (Numbers 25:1-9).

Moses additional urged towards mingling with pagan nations as a result of “they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods” (Deuteronomy 7:4). In different phrases, God’s individuals have been on this state of affairs for a really very long time. Like historical Israel, we stay surrounded by those that have no idea the one true God and as an alternative worship false idols. Like historical Israel, our kids are in peril of being enticed by these idolaters. Like historical Israel, we’ve a divinely devised protection towards their seductions.

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7), Backholm quoted Moses’s directions to Israel.

“This is Moses’s exhortation to the nation of Israel about how to disciple your children,” Backholm defined. “Discipleship happens not [only] on Sunday morning and not during bedtime prayer, but when you demonstrate that this is an integral part of your life, and that meal time, and work time, and play time, and recreation time—all of that—is undergirded by your faith.”

According to Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk in “Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation,” Backholm cited, “the most instrumental factor seems to be when parents talk about faith with their children, not just when they’re in the car coming and going from Sunday school or when they’re saying bedtime prayers.”

That’s merely not sufficient time. Students will spend 16,000 hours in lecture rooms, stated Closson, “one hour on a Sunday morning and a one hour on a Wednesday night youth group can’t possibly counteract” that.

“Unless you are intentional about training a different worldview, [progressivism is] going to be what [your children] absorb from the world around them,” Backholm warned.

In different phrases, it takes greater than cultural Christianity to lift up kids within the faith of Jesus Christ, simply because it takes greater than cultural Christianity to comply with Christ. Just earlier than commanding dad and mom to instruct their kids, Moses commanded them, “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:6). And simply earlier than that’s the biggest commandment, which can also be the one fallen sinners most fail to maintain, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

Without a regenerate coronary heart that wholly loves the Lord and that meditates on his instructions, a dad or mum would possibly as effectively instruct their kids to comply with God with duct tape over their face.

Thus, coaching our kids in righteousness begins with our consideration to our personal private holiness and our personal religious disciplines. We ought to instruct our kids, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1)—and that instruction ought to imply one thing. This ought to embody our trustworthy participation in a neighborhood church. Not solely will the weekly rhythm reinforce our phrases, however the native church also needs to reinforce our authority and educating as dad and mom.

Of course, the Christian stroll just isn’t a listing of do’s and don’ts. It requires the Holy Spirit’s life-transforming work of conversion, impressed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. This means we can’t convert our kids, pressure or manipulate them into professing Christ, or assume that they’re saved. Instead, we must always pray for God to transform them, ideally from a younger age. We must be trustworthy to show them about Jesus, and to show them the Gospel most of all. And we must always attraction to their consciences in our instruction, not searching for to manage their outward habits, however as an alternative to shepherd their coronary heart towards Christ. (Thanks to “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” and different nice parenting books for these concepts.)

“It is absolutely crucial, if you want your children to follow the Lord, to make sure that they know, without a shadow of a doubt, that your commitment to Christ and to his Word and to his church is the driving force in your life,” stated Closson. “If the Christian faith and your Christian identity really is the core of who you are, and your children know that it’s the core of who you are, and it’s part of your weekly rhythms.”

And if it’s additionally a part of your common catechesis and discipleship, your kids will know.

Originally printed at WashingtonStand.com