Peer-reviewed article
Cultivating Care: Developmentally Reframing the Religious Nurture of Young Children
Karen‐Marie Yust ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed article discusses theoretical perspectives on how religious nurture might support moral development in young children, drawing on developmental psychology literature. It argues against previous findings suggesting religiosity harms altruism, proposing instead that religious practice could enhance prosocial behaviour and tolerance. The article synthesises existing research on infants', toddlers' and preschoolers' moral capacities and curiosity.
Key points
- Previous research (Decety et al.) found family religiosity negatively affects children's altruism, but the authors dispute this conclusion
- Infants and toddlers exhibit moral sensibilities and preschoolers engage through 'charitable epistemologies'
- Religious nurture could promote prosocial behaviours aligned with religious and social tolerance
- Curiosity plays a role in children's exploration of difference
Limitations
This is a theoretical synthesis of existing literature rather than original empirical research or intervention evaluation. It does not present new data on actual outcomes for children exposed to different types of religious nurture.
Abstract
Decety et al. posited that family religiosity has a negative effect on children’s altruism. However, a constructive reading of developmental psychologists suggests that religious nurture can enhance young children’s moral development. Bloom and Harris offered evidence that infants and toddlers exhibit moral sensibilities and preschoolers engage the world through charitable epistemologies primed toward consensus and care. Engel provided insight into the role of curiosity in exploring difference in the world. Taken together, their findings suggest new ways that religious nurture might promote prosocial behaviors congruent with religious and social tolerance.