Parents may think their teens don’t listen to them, but according to a new study, parents have a major influence on how teens perceive—and act on—their faith.
The survey, conducted by the American Bible Society, found parents who attend church regularly have teens who go to church, too. Of those parents who never go to church, 78 percent of them raise youth who never go either. A whopping 80 percent of teens feel the Bible is important—only a slight dip from what their parents believe (87 percent)—and about the same number of teens believe their prayers are answered some or all the time.
There are some inconsistencies. We’ve already pointed out that four out of five teens believe the Bible is important, and nearly half say the Bible is very important, but even among teens who hold the Bible in the highest reverence, only 11 percent read the Good Book regularly.