There is an interesting national poll finding that most parents are worried about their children’s spiritual condition. The Christian polling firm led by George Barna surveyed parents with children under the age of 18 and measured their level of concern regarding their peers.

The survey asked parents “how concerned are you about your child/children’s spiritual development?” Most respondents (73 percent) indicated that they were either “somewhat” or “very” concerned with their children’s spiritual development.

The survey broke the respondents down into three categories: practicing Christian parents, Christian parents, and non-Christian parents. It classified “Christians who have attended a worship service within the past month and strongly agree their faith is important to their life” as practicing Christians.

A majority of practicing Christian parents (51 percent) reported feeling “very” concerned about their children’s spiritual development, followed by 33 percent who were “somewhat” concerned.  Similarly, 80 percent of Christian parents were either “very” or “somewhat” concerned about their children’s spiritual development.

Non-Christian parents had the lowest level of concern about their children’s spiritual health among the three groups, with 27 percent telling pollsters that they were “very” concerned about their children’s spiritual development and an additional 31 percent identifying themselves as “somewhat” concerned.

Practicing Christians also had the highest level of concern about their children staying true to their faith among the three groups surveyed. A solid majority of practicing Christians (58 percent) asserted that they were “very” concerned about whether their children would “stay true to their spiritual faith,” while an additional 28 percent were “somewhat” concerned.

The survey also asked parents about their level of concern surrounding their children’s ability to make meaningful relationships with other children. A plurality of U.S. parents (48 percent) said that they were “very” concerned about their children’s ability to form meaningful relationships with their peers and an additional 35 percent identified themselves as “somewhat” concerned.

This article was originally published by the AFA of Indiana.