Are Preachers' Children really more likely to get into TROUBLE? Why or why not? How about become atheists?

Answer 1

The pressure seems to be that they have to be good kids to protect their parents' reputation, while simultaneously learning from a very early age that their parents are more concerned with the welfare of other people. Kinda hard to take.

I've observed two broad categories of PKs: real troublemakers, and close to perfect children. Seems the pressure swings you one way or another.

Answer 2

lol... well... speaking with some little knowledge about this....

My father in law is a Methodist Minister. So his children grew up inside the church.

My sister in law used to sneak out of the house and got herself pregnant by a dead beat at the age of 17. She is now 30 years old, has two children both by dead beats who used to abuse her, and still lives at home with her parents.

My husband has turned out immensly better with a very good job in the hotel industry, a career, and is now what could be closest to being called a Buddhist.

So lets do the math... Methodist Minister father (whose a very kind caring and strong man with an education few can match) who has a daughter who got into almost no end of trouble and a son whose an Atheist.

Yeah... seems like the answer to your question is "yes".

Answer 3

I don't think they are more likely to get into trouble. It all depends on how the preacher raises his children. It also depends on how the children choose to perceive the world around them. I don't think people should become atheists to get out of trouble even if preacher's children are more likely to get into trouble. Atheists or agnostics often are atheist/agnostics because thats how they perceive the world. They are not doing it for any benefits or anything.

Answer 4

No. The ones that do have trouble with their kids is due to the fact that the preacher is minding other people's business and neglecting his own. The kids end up running wild.

Answer 5

As a preacher's and a teacher's kid, I would say yes, we are more likely to have a harder time with trouble. Maybe it's better to say that when we get into trouble it's much more of a big deal. I certainly had a harder time adjusting to secular college as it was an extreme eye opener, not so much the drinking, but the amount of one sided information I had been feed growing up.

Answer 6

I don't know statistics, but when I was young, that was a standard urban legend, and it seemed to be true in our town. I always thought it was because they were more restricted at home, and so had more to rebel against. And becoming atheists is easy to believe, too, because they were more likely to see the hypocrisy behind the religion.

Answer 7

i can only say about myself. i was the son of a preacher man. i liked trouble then, and i like trouble now. and, whether or not i was the son of a preacher man, i would still be an atheist, because i still would have a brain.

Answer 8

Not sure there's been a study done on this, but allegorical evidence would suggest yes to the first question. Simply because they are held to higher standards than most children, they will also need to rebel more to discover themselves.

As for the atheist part, I doubt it. Early social conditioning is very hard to overcome.

Answer 9

I suspect that a close reading of the bible is enough to make anyone an atheist (It did me). Assuming that a preacher's child is more likely to read the bible..

Answer 10

PKs tend to be subjected to a more intense dose of the repression inherent in jesus-freaking, since they have to be good little godbots to buff the reputation of the parents. This tends to lead to an even more intense reaction in the opposite direction when the child reaches the age of reason.

Religion! Legal child abuse! Gotta love it.