Passing on the Faith: The Father's Role in Religious Transmission

Many religious scholars have asserted that the mother's role is the most important in the transmission of religiosity to the child. However, the role of the father in passing on religious beliefs and practices is not as well understood and literature directly concerning this phenomenon is scarce. Previous literature asserts that the father's influence in the socialization process, and in religious transmission specifically, is minimal. However, could this be changing as a result of new gender role definitions? As more women move into the workforce, and as more men are encouraged to take on a larger portion of the home responsibilities than previously assumed, it would stand to reason that the changes may affect the father's impact. This analysis utilizes a national poll (n = 1,058) of American Catholics titled the Catholic Pluralism Project. The single most important finding in this study is the importance of the father's religiosity in religious transmission. There is a consistent pattern of significance across all models, including the full model, which indicates that the father's influence is as strong as the mother's, if not stronger. These results refute the existing literature that devalues the effect of the father's influence on religious transmission.