"You know why I want to join the church?" The speaker was a father in his thirties, holding an infant on his shoulder. A red Land's End diaper bag was slung over his other shoulder. His wife stood next to him in the church narthex, holding the hand of a cranky two-year-old with a runny nose. The father said, "We began to worry about raising our children. There are too many opinions about what's right and what's wrong, too many temptations, too many possible wrong turns. We want our kids to learn some positive values, and the church seemed like a place where they can learn them. We want to join the church because the church is one place that teaches good values."

Most young parents understand his concern. We have come through a period of about thirty years where many voices in our culture …