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India: study examines children's perception of God


children at prayer

children at prayer

Indian children across multiple religious backgrounds believe in God but differ in how they perceive God, a recent study has found.

Hema Selvakumari, who conducted the research for her postgraduate degree in the Department of Christian Studies at the University of Madras, said yesterday the study focused on how different religions affect each other.

Selvakumari said the study was conducted "to understand how children from different religious backgrounds perceive the idea of God in a multi-religious context like India."

Despite many attempts by Asian theologians to understand these dynamics, children have never been considered in the framework of that understanding, she said. "This study is one attempt to fill that gap."

A group of 109 school children of different faiths aged 8-12 from 11 schools in Chennai participated in the study, which was conducted last year.

The children were asked to draw a picture expressing their idea of God creatively. In depth interviews and focus groups were also conducted among selected children.

The study found that children identified God as necessary for all created things and to solve all problems and meet all needs, the researcher said.

Children also said that a sense of God influenced their moral behavior and assists in making decisions.

Selvakumari said children also said they communicated directly with God and received communications from God. "Irrespective of religions, children pray to God," she said.

Despite the heavy influence of mothers in shaping children's spirituality, Selvakumari said her research showed that most children perceived God as "Father."

The study also found that while most Christian and Muslim children owned copies of those religions' holy books, Hindu children did not. Moreover, while Christian and Muslim children agreed that all gods are not one and the same, Hindu children believed they were the same but were simply called different names.

Selvakumari said that Hindu, Jain and Sikh children tended to consider all religions as equal, while Christian and Muslim children found it difficult to consider other religions and gods as equal. "Contrary to our general belief, children have a good understanding of God and adults need to learn from them," she said.

Source: UCANews

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