Does God Make it Real? Childrens Belief in Religious Stories from the Judeo-Christian Tradition

摘要

Four- to 6-year-old children heard religious or non-religious stories and were questioned about their belief in the reality status of the story characters and events. Children had low to moderate levels of belief in the story characters and events. Children in the religious story condition had higher levels of belief in the reality of the story characters and events than did children in the non-religious condition; this relationship strengthened with age. Children who used God as an explanation for the events showed higher levels of belief in the factuality of those events. Story familiarity and family religiosity also affected children's responses. We conclude that God's involvement in a story influences children's belief in the reality of the characters and events in that story.