Chapter 7 - Religion and Guilt in Childhood

Abstract

This chapter explores reasons for the neglect of religion in theoretical and empirical work in psychology. It points out that, contrary to prevailing theoretical tenets, religiosity is not necessarily related to poor mental health and worse socio-emotional well-being and argues for more refined definitions, and measurement of both religion and guilt. Empirical evidence indicates that intrinsic religiosity is associated with a healthy guilt response to actual wrongdoing and to good physical health and lowered rates of substance abuse, delinquency, and suicidality. The review of guilt and religion in children includes the consideration of the role of development. There are three stages of religious understanding in development that closely parallel Piaget's stages of cognitive development. During Stage 1, children are quite undifferentiated in their identification with institutional religion and in their personal experience with prayer. Stage 2 evidences greater cognitive awareness and parallels Piaget's concrete operational stage. Children can identify themselves and others as being of different religions because of concrete outward manifestations of such. Prayer is identified by the actual behaviors associated with praying, whatever those cultural forms might be. Stage 3 parallels the emergence of Piaget's formal operational stage. At this stage children disavow religious identity by outward forms, but define themselves and others according to abstractions of inner belief. Prayer becomes an inner mental function that is private and intimate and not so dependent on outward form.