The Encyclopedia of World Religions

children, religion of S 81

dren are naturally selfish, embodiments of “origi nal SIN ,” and only through training, education, and religion can they learn to be good and to love God. Perhaps children, like adults, are complicated and there are ways in which both perspectives are true. Certainly children can be selfish, demand ing, and even very cruel, sometimes thoughtlessly, sometimes out of malice, to animals, other chil dren, and adults. Sometimes these are things about which, as they grow older, they feel bad and con fess to God, asking his forgiveness. Whether it is through disobedience, meanness of thought, word, and deed, or order things virtually all children, by the time they grow up, have enough experience to know personally what religions mean by sin and evil, and why they take it so seriously. At the same time, children often have experi ences that lay foundations for religion of a much more positive sort. They may, perhaps alone in nature or a garden or even their room, sense on occasion an overwhelming feeling of peace, won der, and joy. They may have companions invisible to others that are like ANGELS or spirits. They may have a sense that something like their parents is supporting them even when they are alone. All these experiences at first have no name, but if a child is raised in a religion, sooner or later she or he will probably think of them as experi ences of God or buddhahood, of angels or of a heavenly Father or Mother. The religion within which one is raised serves to give names and ways of thinking that help the child to “place” religious type experiences both of wonder and of sin. Some children may feel a conflict between their inner most spiritual experiences and having to interpret them according to a family religion; others may not. But dealing with that is part of growing up. Frequently children greatly enjoy the festivals and special celebrations of religions. Religious experience and tension both are likely to be heightened by puberty and adoles cence, when strong new emotions, a new sense of a need for a person’s independent identity, and a yearning for idealistic beliefs, may be channeled in religious directions. This is often a time of intense religious experience, conversion experiences, and

objects as well. Amulets include religious medals worn around the neck, sacred stones or tiny divine images carried in purse or pocket, or nowadays religious pictures, small statues, or medals on the dashboard of a car. Sometimes, especially in H IN DUISM and B UDDHISM , they may consist of a short sacred mantra or other text placed inside a small box. Many S HINTO shrines and other temples regu larly present amulets to visitors. While the use of charms and amulets may be regarded by some as superstitious, it is important to remember that for many religious people they are seen not only as bearers of sacred power in themselves, but also as tokens of one’s religious identity and reminders of one’s spiritual commitment in the midst of the stresses of everyday life. Some people, of course, wear religious jewelry and other sacred objects as a general symbol of that identity, but without a belief in any special power in the object itself. Oth ers hold that, in mysterious ways, special divine power can indeed by imparted in some degree to particular objects. children, religion of How children experience religion and spiritual realities. Religions seem to have two very different views of what children are like from a religious point of view. On one hand, there is the idea represented by the poet William Wordsworth’s famous lines in “Intimations of Immortality”: … Trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! And only after Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy does that splendor “fade into the light of common day.” This is the view that children have naturally a particularly acute religious sense, and indeed are particularly close to G OD and heavenly glory. The other view, represented by A UGUSTINE OF H IPPO , John C ALVIN , and other more conventional religious thinkers of several traditions is that chil