Apologies if this was already posted. I've been on vacation for a while and would have missed it. Anyway, in two research studies described here (PDF warning), children from religious backgrounds had a tougher time distinguishing fantasy from reality. I know the knee-jerk reaction from theists is to dismiss this. But is it really that surprising that children raised to believe in the supernatural would have difficulty recognizing it as fantasy? It makes sense to me. I'm not, in any way, saying there is anything wrong with religious kids. I do think this provides some evidence for the idea that instilling faith and/or religion at such a young age can hurt critical thinking down the road, though. And in anticipation of the "did you tell your kids about Santa" defense, yes, I did. But I'm eventually going to tell them that Santa isn't real. I think Santa provides a good teaching moment for most kids about how sometimes things seem supernatural but actually have very rational causes.
I'd be curious to see a study on those who are brought up theistic....who are also superstitious. IOW, the relationship between belief in God...and the belief that breaking mirrors....or walking under a ladder.....or laying a hat on a bed..... is "bad luck"
Religion is superstition. Someone brought up religious is going to be superstitious. Don't mean to offend but that's my view. Animals can be superstitious. No surprise that we can be as well. But animals don't have scientific inquiry to deal with the matters that fall under superstition.
Well religion is probably the poster child for superstition, so yeah. I know some hearty Christians who are terribly superstitious about all sorts of whacky stuff - ladders etc. Then again I know some others who view that stuff as something entirely different (and far lsss virtuous) than religion. As for kids .... I suppose anything can happen if they're taught that 2 + 2 = 5, but warned never to question that.
