Religious Thought & Education in Children: A Guide
Religious Thought in the Educational Stage of Children
1. Elements that Influence a Child’s Religiosity
There are two elements to consider in “natural religiosity”:
- Children possess an innate capacity for religious understanding that will develop with significant contributions from their surrounding culture.
- The religious sentiment possesses a genetic predisposition, fully determined by the education that the individual receives.
Religious Thought as a Result of Family Influence
Family is the first socializing structure for the individual, and the religious dimension does not escape this influence. This symbiosis between family structure and religious beliefs influences our programming. The relationship between religiosity and family attitude is close not only because of the transmission of religious values, but also because these values are surrounded by an affective experience and family involvement that make the child feel part of a community.
2. Religious Thought
a) Design of God
- Before the age of 3, a child’s image of God is difficult to determine.
- At 3 years old, the child manifests respect and fear toward the sacred idea. God appears as a protective father figure; there is a divine paternalization.
- At 4 years old, the image of God is at its highest. This is considered the “golden age” of God. Children envision a marvelous world.
- At 5 or 6, the child begins to distinguish God from their parents.
b) A Sense of the Sacred
The attitude of humans toward mystery changes with age:
- At 3 years old, there is a sense of fear toward the wonders of the world.
- From 3 to 7, the feeling of absolute confidence is lost.
c) Religious Behavior
During early childhood education, there is a stage where behaviors and beliefs are magical. For children under 3 years old, the people and things around them feel like part of themselves. Their reality is subjective. As their consciousness of themselves and their world is undifferentiated, the child attaches to the outside what they experience within. As they are socialized and acquire language, beyond the Oedipus complex, they begin to decentralize reality and recognize the difference between subject and object.
From 3 to 6 years old, the child’s religiosity is focused on permanent change, coupled with the psychological change of the subject, summarized in two points:
- Self-centeredness or narcissism is the source of the magical traits of religiosity.
- The child at this stage engages in intentional animism, relating actions to an immanent justice that can be attributed to Providence.
Religious Content in the Childhood Stage
General Religious Objectives
- Objectives related to meaning
- Animals and plants as God’s creation
- Confluence of God’s and man’s actions in nature
- Speaking of the Christian faith
- Written expression of the Christian faith
- Plastic expression of the Christian faith
- Religious song as an expression of faith and creation
- Expression of faith through the body
Religious Content
- The human body as God’s creation
- Expression of Christian values through the child
- Christian sense of daily activity
- Health as a gift from God
- Christian social relations
- Monitoring Christian religious elements as a member of the Christian community
- Acquiring respect, trust, and joy towards others
- Respecting animals and plants as God’s creation
- Oral, plastic, and written expression of faith
- Religious singing as an expression of faith
- Expression of faith through the body
The Professional Profile of Catholic Religion Teachers
1. The Religious Dimension in Human Formation
We are all aware that we are experiencing an important cultural change. Every change creates conflict and tensions that affect people. Education must face these tensions and dilemmas. Overcoming them by promoting the full capabilities of the individual is the great challenge of schools. Teachers are assigned the leading role and responsibility in education. However, there is no unanimity in determining the constitutive dimensions of personality and their assessment for achieving integral education. For a full and integral education, students need to know, learn to know, to do, to be, and to live together (the four pillars). The teaching of religion provides the relevant elements for achieving integral formation and focuses on the person, their problems, their expectations, and their needs. It responds to the big questions about the meaning of life.
2. Characteristics of the Religious Educator
a) The Profession of the Religious Educator
The comprehensive educational demands of every teacher require specific skills and qualities. The vocation of an educator is a gift from God that must be nurtured. This vocation requires generosity and dedication since their task is to serve others’ needs. They need to continuously nourish themselves with the content they transmit, making it their own to avoid teaching in a vacuum.
b) The Professor of Religion, a Teacher of Humanities
Educating a person is above all humanizing them, promoting their dignity, freedom, and responsibility. It is about working alongside others and giving meaning to humanity in the realm where it develops in solidarity. The religious professional is to live a joyful experience of self-giving in the daily task of educating students, enhancing their absolute value, their desire for good, their hunger for truth, and their need for fulfillment in this world. For the Church, the value of the human person is central, which is the foundation of solidarity, especially with the disadvantaged. Therefore, the religious professor must be a master in the humanities.
c) The Professor of Religion as a Sower of Fraternity
The religious educator does not only focus on systems, methods, and work programs, but also establishes an empathetic relationship with the students that helps them contrast their own values. This relationship must be characterized by gratitude, appreciation, and interest.