fact from fiction, or imaginations versus materialism?

[thir]

I came across this article via another site:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/18/researchers-children-exposed-to-religion-have-difficulty-distinguishing-fact-from-fiction/

It is an experiment that seems to show that children with a religious bag ground have difficulty distinguishing real persons from pretend ones. Read it, it is short and quite interesting.

So the question is: will the children from a religious home have more imagination and fantasy than others, or will they keep having a problem seeing what is pretend and what is not????

[michaelwarlock]

Very cool .... thanks for sharing

[Thorne]

The answers are all around us. Look at the likes of Pat Robertson, Glenn Beck, Bryan Fisher, etc., etc., ad nauseum. They still believe (or claim to believe, to keep the cash flow going) that the vast majority of the worlds problems are caused by demons, or devils, or some other mythological bad guys, rather than admitting that most of the problems are caused by those who want to blame demons rather than accept responsibility for their own actions.

Flip Wilson's cry of "The Devil made me do it!" was supposed to be sarcasm. It's become the rallying cry of religious conservatives.

[thir]

If this research is correct, what will happen to these children later on?

Will they always have difficulties distinguishing pretend from real?

Will they be blocked from becoming scientists?

Will they become criminals?

Will they become fundamentalists?

Will they pass this on to their own children?

I think this is a serious finding.

[Thorne]

If this research is correct, what will happen to these children later on?
Probably nothing different than what happened to people like us. Some will thrive, some won't.


Will they always have difficulties distinguishing pretend from real?
Again, some will, some won't. Education is a good remedy for such things, though not always effective. Those kids who go to secular colleges, for example, will likely have their eyes opened to reality. Some of them will see the truth, some won't.


Will they be blocked from becoming scientists?
Not necessarily. There are many scientists who still hold firm religious beliefs. They compartmentalize. They keep religion out of their science and, as much as they can, they keep science out of their religion.


Will they become criminals?
Yes, at the same rate as anyone else. Religiosity is not an indicator of criminal behavior, nor does it prevent such behavior. There have been some studies which indicate that religious people will commit crimes at a slightly higher rate than the non-religious, but to my knowledge none of them have been validated. It is true that there are a disproportionate number of religious criminals in prisons, but that has more to do with the fact that the prison system tends to reward those who become involved in religious activities over those who don't. (It's easier to get a parole if you've "found Jesus".)


Will they become fundamentalists?
Some will, of course, and some won't. In all probability, most will become nominally religious, professing faith without really having much of it. Just like most of the religious people around us. It's a social club, and even if you don't believe, you have to say you do to stay a member. Show up at church, or mosque, or synagogue or whatever, once in a while to maintain the social bonds.


Will they pass this on to their own children?
Sadly, too many of them will. Mostly by placing their children into the hands of the True Believers (http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/07/20/church-camp-looks-so-fun/).


I think this is a serious finding.
It's a serious problem! But the good news is that the religions are slowly losing ground. In the US, those professing "none" on religion questions are growing very rapidly. Every major religious organization is seeing declines in attendance and enrollments. And what's most encouraging is that it's the younger people who are leaving, in droves. They see the hypocrisy and the idiocy of their elders, especially the religious leaders, and they are turning away. It's why the religious right in this country are working so hard to violate that constitution they profess to worship by forcing their religious teachings into the schools. If they can't fill the kids' heads with the faith virus, they can't hang on to them later in life. And as the old guard gradually dies off, we'll see religion becoming what it should be, a personal journey, kept in the home and in church, with little to no influence on those who choose not to partake of the Kool Aid.