**Rowland Croucher**
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 Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:15 am Post subject: Infants 'have natural belief in God' |
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Infants 'have natural belief in God'
Barney Zwartz
July 26, 2008
INFANTS are hard-wired to believe in God, and atheism has to be learned,
according to an Oxford University psychologist.
Dr Olivera Petrovich told a University of Western Sydney conference on
the psychology of religion that even preschool children constructed
theological concepts as part of their understanding of the physical world.
Pyschologists have debated whether belief in God or atheism was the
natural human state. According to Dr Petrovich, an expert in psychology
of religion, belief in God is not taught but develops naturally.
She told The Age yesterday that belief in God emerged as a result of
other psychological development connected with understanding causation.
It was hard-wired into the human psyche, but it was important not to
build too much into the concept of God. "It's the concept of God as
creator, primarily," she said. Dr Petrovich said her findings were based
on several studies, particularly one of Japanese children aged four to
six, and another of 400 British children aged five to seven from seven
different faiths.
"Atheism is definitely an acquired position," she said.
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