On Thursday, The Washington Post reported on a Pew Research Center study highlighting the starkest difference between conservative parents and liberal parents: liberals teach tolerance, conservatives teach religion.

While parents on both sides of the political spectrum agreed on the importance of hard work, charity, and responsibility, the two sides were dramatically polarized on the subject of religion and "tolerance".

As the chart below demonstrates, 81 percent of consistently conservative parents said religion is "especially important" to teach children versus only 26 percent of consistently liberal parents and 46 percent of mostly liberal parents. On the "tolerance" side of things, 88 percent of consistently liberal parents said that was "especially important" versus 41 percent of consistently conservative parents and 57 percent of mostly conservative parents.

The study did not specify exactly what parents defined as "tolerance," which has become quite a subjective value in recent years. Most conservatives would define tolerance as agreeing to disagree with different beliefs and practices from your own while liberals would define tolerance as acceptance, even adoption, of different beliefs in practices you might initially disagree with. Judeo-Christian values emphasize the former definition over the latter. 

Despite that liberals and conservatives mostly agreed on other core American values, the heavy polarization between the two values has arguably been at the center of most debates, especially in regards to religious freedom on issues like gay marriage, free contraception, abortion, and no-fault divorce. No doubt, it's a gap that has been splitting us apart.