By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Politics Discussion - Religious Children Have Difficulty Distinguishing Fact From Fiction

badgenome said:

The study is hardly convincing because of the methodology used. Every single fictional story used was a slightly altered Bible story (e.g., "John" parting the sea instead of Moses), and of course Christian kids inclined to believe stories they already believe even if you change the names of the participants. It doesn't prove that religious kids are more inclined to believe fictional stories that fall outside of the mythos of their particular religion.

This actually speaks to a more dynamic theological question, about what proportion of religious kids would be willing to believe in modern miracles, or which would have more difficulty believing in their faith if modern-day mythic figures were wandering around?



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

Around the Network

So children aren't allowed to be children anymore...?

At that age I believe I could be Spiderman. lol!



IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
MTZehvor said:

 

My point is that this study is a moot point at best. Even if you believe that religion is utterly stupid and pointless, and people are stupid for believing in it (which I would argue is not the case, but again, different argument), there is no connection behind the link this study attempts to draw and the actual beliefs of adults.


Then allow me to make one: Only religious adults believe that prayers can alter the chances of different outcomes, which is a clear case of religious people having difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction.

I feel like you've missed the entire point.

Here we go once more:

The article's point is that kids' ability to determine the likelihood of a story being able to occur is skewed by being taught stories from the Bible which would seem far-fetched to most people. In other words, kids are unable to determine the probability of an event actually being able to occur because they believe that similar events have ocurred in the past.

The situation here is entirely different, because adults have the ability to weigh the probability, and STILL believe in it. In other words, they believe in spite of the improbability. They realize how far-fetched it sounds, and still believe in it. Kids, meanwhile, believe in it without recognizing how far-fetched it sounds. That is the difference.

Think of it like this: there are plenty of adults out there that believe in God despite not having done so as a child (and, to be fair, the inverse is true as well). IF this finding had any link towards adults, i.e. adults only believed in religion because their ability to determine the normal from the far-fetched was obscured, then we would not expect many children who are raised secular to become religious. But that isn't the case, only 46% of Americans who were unaffiliated with religion as children remain so as adults. Granted, we're discussing regions much bigger than just America here, but the point is still the same regardless; lots of people still believe in what seems far-fetched regardless of whether they were supposedly indoctrinated as kids.

My point is simply that there is no link between kids's ability to distinguish between far-fetched and realistic and adults'. Kids cannot distinguish, and so believe both. Adults can distinguish, and believe in spite of the difficulty. That's the difference, and why I believe this study is pointless towards drawing conclusions about adulthood.



IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
Rawrerer said:

It is a fact that God is more probable. The probabilty for something to be created from nothing is the same probabilty as 0 = 1. Now the probabilty of a God who can manipulate physics into what he wants is far more probable. Just look at the math.

Dna and Rna have been compared to a computer code. What computer program do you know that created itself? A computer program is created by a programmer. That is the factual reality that God is more probable. Not saying God is 100% but i am saying that God is more likely then chaos.


Just because something can't be created from nothing that doesn't mean that something hasn't always been there. After all, that's how people explain God's existence. So why not be open for the possibility of matter always existing?

because then you have an even less likly occurance where you have Chaos from everything being pulled into order and staying maintained. It would be like if you took all the parts of a watch, shook the bag and you then came out with a working watch that was running on with the correct time.



Mr Khan said:
badgenome said:

The study is hardly convincing because of the methodology used. Every single fictional story used was a slightly altered Bible story (e.g., "John" parting the sea instead of Moses), and of course Christian kids inclined to believe stories they already believe even if you change the names of the participants. It doesn't prove that religious kids are more inclined to believe fictional stories that fall outside of the mythos of their particular religion.

This actually speaks to a more dynamic theological question, about what proportion of religious kids would be willing to believe in modern miracles, or which would have more difficulty believing in their faith if modern-day mythic figures were wandering around?

In a sense, there are modern day mythic figures walking the globe. Of course they are only mythical to the minority of the population that believes in their myth.

See Kim Il-Sung > Kim Jong-Il > Kim Jong-Un. The DPRK literally created a religious cult of belief/faith that prove the "divinity" of that lineage down to a divine birth, etc. 

See various cults who follow/worship their respective leaders as divine figures. 

And yes, these are all extremely localized instances, but they are perceived as being very real to their respective followers. But to say any given belief or faith being deemed correct simply on the basis of having a majority percentage of a population is something that most can agree is completely ridiculous (ie. the one true god or gods change depending on which have the most believers).



Around the Network
IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
MTZehvor said:

 

My point is that this study is a moot point at best. Even if you believe that religion is utterly stupid and pointless, and people are stupid for believing in it (which I would argue is not the case, but again, different argument), there is no connection behind the link this study attempts to draw and the actual beliefs of adults.


Then allow me to make one: Only religious adults believe that prayers can alter the chances of different outcomes, which is a clear case of religious people having difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction.

Or maybe they do.  ;)



jigokutamago said:
IIIIITHE1IIIII said:

Just because something can't be created from nothing that doesn't mean that something hasn't always been there. After all, that's how people explain God's existence. So why not be open for the possibility of matter always existing?

I do agree that the universe always existing is very possible.

What I wonder about is the statistical probability of the universe making sense. If there was in fact no planning done in the universe, what is the chance that the outcome would be what we have today. The laws of physics just stay too consistant for absolutely no reason. It would make more sense to have a being beyond our understanding and the laws of the universe to have planned this whole thing out.


While our current situation indeed does seem unlikely, probability gets messy when you're dealing with an infinite amount of time. As far as we know the universe may have had several far less likely shapes than its current form, with even more complex lifeforms.

Still, even as an atheist I view god as a possibility. After all, our universe might as well be part of a massively complex being's brain cell network of some sort, and there's no way we would know. But with that said I think the existence of elves is more likely than that god being one of our current known gods.



Guys stop it! This article is stupid, considering that while children are gullible, they always ask their parents or siblings if the things they learned was right. And NO ONE is born a Christian, that's a choice they make themselves.



Bet with Xander XT: 

I can beat more games on his 3DS than he can on my PSVita in a month. Loser has to buy the winner a game on his/her handheld Guess who won? http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=193531

Me!

MTZehvor said:

I feel like you've missed the entire point.

Here we go once more:

The article's point is that kids' ability to determine the likelihood of a story being able to occur is skewed by being taught stories from the Bible which would seem far-fetched to most people. In other words, kids are unable to determine the probability of an event actually being able to occur because they believe that similar events have ocurred in the past.

The situation here is entirely different, because adults have the ability to weigh the probability, and STILL believe in it. In other words, they believe in spite of the improbability. They realize how far-fetched it sounds, and still believe in it. Kids, meanwhile, believe in it without recognizing how far-fetched it sounds. That is the difference.

Think of it like this: there are plenty of adults out there that believe in God despite not having done so as a child (and, to be fair, the inverse is true as well). IF this finding had any link towards adults, i.e. adults only believed in religion because their ability to determine the normal from the far-fetched was obscured, then we would not expect many children who are raised secular to become religious. But that isn't the case, only 46% of Americans who were unaffiliated with religion as children remain so as adults. Granted, we're discussing regions much bigger than just America here, but the point is still the same regardless; lots of people still believe in what seems far-fetched regardless of whether they were supposedly indoctrinated as kids.

My point is simply that there is no link between kids's ability to distinguish between far-fetched and realistic and adults'. Kids cannot distinguish, and so believe both. Adults can distinguish, and believe in spite of the difficulty. That's the difference, and why I believe this study is pointless towards drawing conclusions about adulthood.

To be fair, the original study didn't make this link. It talks specifically about children's development and ability to differentiate between reality and fiction rather than adulthood. It's not just religious stories either, but also stories featuring fantastical elements such as magic.

Basically, religious kids are more gullible than non-religious.



WhiteEaglePL said:
Seece said:
WhiteEaglePL said:
whatever said:
Teaching fiction as fact will do that...


Your statment implies to me that your against religion or think it is false.

 

I don't like it.

No offense but why would he care if you don't like it? The majority of people think it's false and some have perfectally good, rational reason to be against religion.

I still don't like it. And no the majority of people on the planet are not atheist.


Okay?  Well, now I'm offended because you seem to think that everyone who doesn't belive in religion is in fact, atheist.  Which, I don't and I'm not.  But, I guess limited views and outlook is your strong suit.