So how many different religions have you interviewed?

Quite a few, luckily London is extraordinary in its diversity. I’ve interviewed the Brahma Kumaris, Bahais, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians but that’s not even all you’d find in London and within each religion there are often many denominations and strands.

When you say ‘faith’ what exactly do you mean?

Well I deliberately tried to keep the term as open as possible when interviewing people; you could say part of the research was in fact finding out what people regard as part of their faith. However, for the sake of some clarity I would say a working definition of faith would be the practices, beliefs and values of a religion.

What are the main ways faith is passed on in families?

There are a huge number of ways faith is passed on some of the key ways I’ve identified are through scripture, story-telling, ritual, prayer, moral instruction, diet and religious creativity. What varies massively is the emphasis placed on different methods by different religions; for Jewish families teaching your children religious rituals is very important the Bahai however have barely any rituals.

Some of the ways arise from the family’s situation, for example within the Muslim family I spoke with the Grandfather taught the grandchildren Arabic so they could read scripture. This was necessary for passing on faith as the children live in a western Christian country so knowledge of Arabic would need to be explicitly taught.

A lot of things you just mentioned as ways of passing on faith seem more like the content of faith.

I’ve learnt it’s very hard to make a sharp distinction between the two, for example when a Christian parent teaches their child to imitate them and make the sign of the cross in seems clear that imitation is the way faith is passed on and the sign of the cross gesture is what is being passed on. Nevertheless when you consider how often in religion gestures, rituals and practices have deeper meanings you can see that in a way the sign of the cross is in fact a method of teaching a child about belief the trinity and respect for God.

So are there any universal ways in which faith is passed on?

I would hesitate to say anything was strictly universal but certainly the idea of teaching by example was something which came up within every family. Like with anything children learn much of it occurs naturally by observing and imitating their parents and siblings. Many of the parents struggled to remember how they had taught their children many of the values and practices of their religions because it was something that occurred unconsciously and organically.

Faith is often transmitted to children through the very atmosphere of their home life. This was highlighted to me particularly by a Jewish person who explained the religious rituals that went on in the home throughout the week and the year were all encompassing experiences of taste, smell, song and emotion

Would you say there are common values passed on by all the religions?

The answer really is yes and no. Certain values such as respect for others, charity and the importance of love were highlighted as important by all the faiths I spoke with. Nevertheless there was still the odd surprise, when speaking with a member of the Brahma Kumaris she explained that the value of silence was very important to them as it provides the necessary space for greater spiritual awareness. This idea of silence as a value was definitely unusual for me and didn’t reoccur in any other of the faiths I had contact with.

Surely some practises such as prayer are taught by all religious parents to their children?

Prayer is indeed a common practise for many religions but it’s important to remember that prayer doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone and isn’t taught in the same way.

For instance the Muslim family I met explained that within Islam communal prayer is seen as a greater blessing, the parents prayed very openly in front of the children encouraging them to join in and imitate. Now even though the children are older they still try to pray together as a family. With the Bahai family it was very different, even though the parents taught the children to pray, for the Bahai prayer is a very personal and individual thing so the children were taught to cultivate their own personal prayer life.

Did you look at faith being passed on outside of religion?

The only non-religious group I spoke to were humanists who were mostly atheists though some were agnostic. They certainly wouldn’t regard themselves as passing on faith and actually most humanists wouldn’t even say they passed on humanism to their children. Instead most of the humanist parents I spoke with felt they presented their children with all options, atheistic and religious, and then encouraged their kids to come to their own conclusions.

What was interesting to see was what resources and frameworks humanist parents used compared to religious parents in areas of upbringing which are universal such as morality. A reoccurring theme with regards to morality was that of the golden rule, ‘treat others as you would be treated’. Though a common idea within religion humanists seemed to feel it some how summarised their belief in the value of human life as their guiding moral principle.

Were there any findings from the project which particularly interested or surprised you?

I suppose I was surprised by the importance of story-telling for the transmission of faith, it really made me look back at my own religious upbringing as a Christian and realise how much of my religious understanding was transmitted and shaped through story.

When looking at different religions it can be easy to fall into the habit of always trying to make classifications and distinctions which emphasis the differences between religions. Story-telling however was very interesting because it highlighted instead the similarity between religions; the universal nature of children which means they all love stories and the universal significance of the story within religion.

For nearly every family that took part in the project it was the stories of their religion which were remembered with the utmost affection.

Narratives are an essential part of most religions whether historical retellings of the works of their prophets or gods, morality tales or their cosmology. The stories of a religion are often informative, teaching the child about the history and content of their religion. Morality tales are another common feature influencing a child’s values. Stories can even provide the framework for understanding the major issues of the human condition, life, death, suffering and purpose.

I could see the truth of this when speaking with the father in a Hindu family, he remember how much his sons had loved the many stories of Hinduism, they were enthralled by the tales of Hindu gods but he felt these stories also provided the foundation for his sons when they were older an became more interested in complex Hindu philosophy.

This project has attempted to speak with a family as typical and representative of their religion as possible. Nonetheless it is fully recognised that there is great variation within religious groups and if you feel the transmission of faith within your family was different from how it has been presented above please help us by getting in touch. You can contact me either by post

FAO Grainne Clancy
London Inter Faith Centre
125 Salusbury Road,
London,
NW6 6RG

Or via email

grainnelapin@aol.co.uk