Religion of children

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 GOD and heavenly glory. The other view, represented by AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, John CALVIN, and other more conventional religious thinkers of several traditions is that children are naturally selfi sh, embodiments of "original 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 selfi sh, demanding, and even very cruel, sometimes thoughtlessly, sometimes out of malice, to animals, other children, and adults. Sometimes these are things about which, as they grow older, they feel bad and confess 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 experiences 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, wonder, 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 fi rst have no name, but if a child is raised in a religion, sooner or later she or he will probably think of them as experiences 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" religioustype experiences both of wonder and of sin. Some children may feel a confl ict between their innermost 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 adolescence, 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 rebellion against family and conventional religion. Many religions try to help people fi nd a new adult religious identity at this time through rites like confi rmation or BAR/BAT MITZVAH. In all cases, though, we fi nd roots of adult religiosity, whatever it is, reaching deep into childhood, but then conditioned one way or another by family and the religious institutions of the adult world.