The survey does not give reasons for the importance of the father's faith, but if asked to speculate, many people think of what was taught to them only by their mothers as childish, something to be grown out of, while what is taught by their fathers is more adult, more real, not just a story for children. This is notto say that this is how the Gospel is presented by the mothers, but it may be the psychological result in the child's mind. Boys whose fathers don't attend church stop going when the reach their late teens and want to think themselves grown up; women in the same situation attend for longer, but frequently marry non-believers, and perhaps subsequently stop attending - church attendence just isn't in their picture of what mature men do.

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T W Hopper
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church
Currently between churches since PRC closed here - attending Crossroads Christian Church.
Canberra, Australia.