Abstract
North Americans' high levels of involvement in religious activities is well-documented (Barna & Hatch, 2001; Gallup & Jones, 2000). Yet there is little empirical research on how families with one religious parent and one non-religious parent nurture their children's faith at home. Parents in this situation may have difficulty balancing the different interest levels in religion among family members, knowing when and to whom to direct religious conversation, and how to create family rituals that are inclusive and not divisive. This preliminary study maps some of the communication challenges facing such "mixed-faith" couples regarding the faith development of their children. In-depth interviewing is used as a first step toward developing grounded theory. Template analysis (King 2004b) is used to thematically organize interview data into three areas: a) family; b) church; and c) the intersection between family and church. Practical implications are discussed at the end of the paper for "mixed-faith" families, the clergy who care for them, and for future scholarship.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
39
Issue
1
First Page
25
Last Page
45
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Isolde K.
(2007)
"Nurturing Children's Spirituality: A Preliminary Study of the Challenges in "Mixed-Faith" Marriages,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 39:
No.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol39/iss1/5
Copyright
©2007 Iowa Communication Association
