The Family Is the First Line of Defense in the Culture War

By Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher

In the 1950s, there were billboards that said the family that prays together, stays together. Since then, family worship, prayer and Bible study have decreased significantly.

I recently watched an interesting documentary, GATHER THE FAMILY, that examines several families, including a very successful doctor, a single mother and other families from different social strata showing that, when they gather for Bible reading and worship, that they’re lives are enhanced in many measurable and immeasurable ways. One Harlem family notes that children love to pray.

There are many complaints, rightfully so, about the school system and the culture, but the family is the first line of defense in the battle for education and the culture war. For it is within the family that parents can build the faith and values to help their children be more than overcomers.

The early church understood this. At that time, the culture was much more toxic than it is today. Yet, the Christians overcame even the Roman Empire.

Many studies have shown that children of intact biological families, with both a mother and a father, who also attend church weekly and pray together regularly are more likely not to smoke or drink as teenagers, are more likely not to smoke marijuana or indulge in other harmful illegal drugs, get better grades in school, are more likely to remain chaste before marriage, are generally healthier, are more mentally stable, are more likely to be financially successful later in life, volunteer to help others more frequently, and are more likely to donate money to charity.

Faced with all this evidence, why don’t our leaders fight harder to protect the traditional definition of marriage, support Christian churches, protect children from the negative effects of the mass media, reform the education system, support parents who homeschool their children, and support bringing voluntary prayer back into the public square, including our schools?

MOVIEGUIDE® is designed to give our leaders, not just families, the tools they need to support the Good, the True and the Beautiful.

For more details on how to do just that, you can dig deeper into our files on our website at, visit our other website The Culture Watch regularly at, and read copies of my books THE CULTURE-WISE FAMILY, THE MEDIA-WISE FAMILY and HOW TO SUCCEED IN HOLLYWOOD (WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL) 

Whatever you do, however, please remember that the family that prays together and goes to church together is the first step in redeeming the schools and the culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its Biblical truth.

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