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LINK Study: Religious children are less able to distinguish fantasy from reality

"According to new research from Boston University, young children with a religious background are less able to distinguish between fantasy and reality compared with their secular counterparts.

In two studies, 66 kindergarten-age children were presented with three types of stories - realistic, religious and fantastical. The researchers then queried the children on whether they thought the main character in the story was real or fictional.

While nearly all children found the figures in the realistic narratives to be real, secular and religious children were split on religious stories. Children with a religious upbringing tended to view the protagonists in religious stories as real, whereas children from non-religious households saw them as fictional."

WilliamCharles 8 Mar 29
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2

Adults put their hand on a book of fables & swear to an imaginary non-being that they will tell the truth. Supposedly serious minded & intelligent judges & barristers support this, and rely on the average JoeBlow Juror to be able to realise (despite their own beliefs) no one is telling the truth, if it's against their own best interest.
How are children supposed to realise fact from fiction, truth from lie, in this environment??

As a child, I was sure that adults didn't really believe the religious fables, that I was told or read. The horror for me was that adults lied about it, and used it for manipulation, with false promises & threats.

Relative to non-religious things ... that all adults lied, a lot, destroyed my trust & ruined the world for me.

hence leave the world i guess

2

As a Psychologist I see religion and children born into religious families as being akin to the old saying re-Mushrooms, i.e. "keep them in the dark and feed them on bullshit."
Therefore, it IS only logical, imo, that secular children are far more apt to distinguish between fiction and reality than are those from religious up-bringing.

0

The numbers keep dropping.

[msnbc.com]

2

This is most likely true. Unfortunately, reality ain’t what it used to be.

1

I can only imagine the intense religious indoctrination the United states & many similar Christian dominant counties have embraced till now. Living among many mainstream , seemingly well off devout pious , believers & remaining civil.is strong . impressive.. Interacting while maintaining that aire of respect
Personally I treat.one like a UFO finatic. A ghost hunting psychic. You do you.. knod politely
Avoid the topic at all costs. Without deriding upsetting a possible customer or client . The doctor or teacher. ( Teachers will denounce religion soon, surely. ) Not a good look id of thought. Not the biggest fan of teachers.. My problem.
So bibles in the fiction section. Keeping a historical story book full of subjective but imaginative tales. Is important.
Tho least we forget. A book that killed an unfathomable amount of people.in it's name. Needs it's place in literatures infamy. Less of the splendor.

5

I still remember realizing that a large number of the adults around me believed that stories from the bible actually happened.

And I would not have been more dumbfounded if they had said Paul Bunyan existed.

It really shook me about their ability to be credible about anything.

And in Catholic School it was taught as if it almost was.

@CuddyCruiser almost?

@bbyrd009 LOL what do you really know when your 8 or 9 years old? I was 11 when i started to get suspicious with the Noah’s ark thing.

@CuddyCruiser Paul Bunyan? lol

I though most Catholic schools taught evolution and science.

6

If you don't teach them critical thinking skills, it follows. And how can cults teach critical thinking skills ?

True there......look at QANON, bunch of fuckin’ featherbrains.

3

Brainwashing.

4

Surprise! Religious adults are less likely to distinguish fantasy from reality. Why so? Their religion is a fantasy.

5

Don't discriminate.

Same thing about children raised on Disney and other fairy tales. They develop a permanent Cinderella Syndrome. They keep hoping in their 40s, 50s and 60s that someone will come and rescue them. Religious and Atheists included.

The “Things will magically turn out okay” “you too will succeed” theme is common in most tv and film entertainment. It is the pernicious selling card of capitalism.

@NJSnarky

They do what they want to sell you commercially, the church tells you that 'God has a plan just for you' but what about we as adults? How much time do we need to wake up in life and realize that nobody should and most likely will come and lift you to a better life. It's only you who can and should do it. We cannot continue blaming others for problems in our lives and seeing therapists. I don't agree with the need for therapists all over. It is only a Western phenomenon. There should be a time when we must pull selves by bootstraps and get control of life however shitty it may be.

Men have the Cinderella Syndrome too but in careers. I had it early in career too. I thought I would work hard and somebody would see me, give me a break and I would succeed fast. I had everything needed.. top education, skills, work ethics.. etc. I worked in a variety industries... from a glass factory to selling marine engines to audit to Wall Street to software and public sector in 3 countries but my prince never came. All that happened was I sold myself short.

That was my point. The problem is us, not them.

@St-Sinner word
well, thats not really the Church
but whatevs

5

No kidding

bobwjr Level 10 Mar 29, 2021
6

Religious adults think all the world was covered in a flood 4,000 years ago and wiped out all humanity when cultures existing longer than that say "Hi!"

Ah the old flood story. Probably passed down from verbal culture, wouldn’t it be interesting to know the dates it actually happened.

This archaeologist is saying, in the biblical lands about 7,000 years ago:

[theguardian.com]

A village I lived in here, UK, was once under water, but had been on land since before the Romans and those before lived there. Am guessing most land masses have been under water at some time or other.

5

That finding does not surprise me in the slightest.

1

Older study, but interesting nonetheless.

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