A Little Child Shall Lead Them … to God

Does becoming a parent make a person more inclined toward the things of God? Yes indeed, according to a survey of moms and dads conducted in 2007 by Parents magazine with Beliefnet.com. A strong majority of respondents, 64.1%, said they’ve become “more religious/spiritual” since having a child. (Only 2.3% said they’ve become less so; 33.6% hadn’t changed.) Some 78% planned to have a formal religious ceremony with their new addition. And the No. 1 challenge to raising a child with religious/spiritual values? Society’s general lack of support for those values. (Interestingly, the lowest-scoring answer to that last question was “scandals involving clergy,” cited by only 3.3% of respondents.) Psalm 127 seems to put all this info in the proper perspective: “Children too are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward.”