"In a very real sense we can speak of the "priesthood of parents." Their task is almost sacramental, for they bring God into the life of their infants and offer their infant's life to God. There is a holy "wholeness" about the task: the way a mother changes a baby's diaper, the way she feeds him, the way she cuddles him, is as meaningful for the religious growth of the child as the way she prays over him or the way she brings him to church. Whatever a mother does for the baby is religiously meaningful if through this action and relationship she expresses love and care and conveys a sense of security and happiness. The quality of that love will be affected by the kind of relationship the mother has with God. A mother's love can be possessive, jealous, insecure, or full of fear and anxiety; in some cases a mother can be so unhappy, or selfish, or confused that she simply does not love her child. In such a case the infant is truly religiously deprived. But the joyous responsible, self-sacrificing, steady love that many mothers give their infants is religious in it's very nature, whatever the mother's beliefs may be. An unafraid, joyous baby, eagerly discovering himself and the world he lives in, is a religiously wholesome baby."