A comparative study of Children’s conception of god On the Basis of age/grades

Manisha Rani Verma

Abstract


This present  paper based on a research study tries to make a comparative study of Indian children’s conception of God on the basis of their age/ grades. A literature study  on the concept ‘God ’was conducted  and it was established that  there are two different schools of thought on children’s conception of God . One school of thought opined that preadolescent children are not capable of thinking of abstract concepts like God and they can think about God in  anthropomorphic or human like way. Another school of thought said that children’s conception of God are not necessarily anthropomorphic at any stage . The objective of the study was to compare Indian children’s conception of God on the basis of grades/age .The sample of the study consisted of 420 children of East Delhi and NCR from I-VIII grades , both male and female and from the government and private schools. In the present study different  researcher made tools were used for the children of different grades  I-III, IV-V , VI- VIII.   For the VI-VIII and IV-V  grades children ,the tools were in the form of  interesting stimulating stories  which associated children with the characters of the stories  followed by a set of questions    exploring  and uncovering children’s innermost feelings, thoughts and views about God.  For  the children of I-III grades the tools were in the form of visual  clips followed by  oral interaction. In the present study, qualitative method of analysis was used. The findings of the study  showed  that there was  a  significant difference amongst children’s conception about God  on the basis of their grades/ age . The findings  can be explained by the theories of cognitive development  as according to these theories later stages build on earlier stages and are more developed, better and comprehensive than the earlier stages.   The findings of the study  also showed that that children are full of imagination, curiosity , inquisitiveness  and reasoning power and can think and express about the abstract ideas like God  through their everyday experiences.  Age wise their experiences may be differ. Hence ,  as per the age group of the children  , these experiences should be planned to engage them in abstract philosophical thinking.

Keywords


ANTHROPOMORPHIC, CONCEPTION, GOD , CHILDREN

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References


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