Recently a study was released that pointed out that children with a religious background had a problem recognizing fictional characters while those from a more secular background did not. Suffice to say that it has already been used in attacks against the religious. The problem is there are some interesting cognitive issues worth considering.
A major problem is that was not evidently addressed is that The Bible is a mix of fact of fiction. Unlike other fiction that children are likely to encounter where there is a definite line of fantasy; in biblical stories that line is harder to define. While there are any number of characters that are probably created out of whole cloth and others that are arguably amalgamations of actual people, there are also a lot of characters that can be looked up as real people. It needs to be noted that a lot of archaeologists have used The Bible as a starting point for their research, as have any number of other scientists.
That's something that needs to be considered here. From a six-year-old child's perspective it is easy to see any biblical character as a real person, especially as most of them were. This is not Greek mythology where the characters are obviously fictional; these may be fictionalized people, but they are still real people. (Note: I'm not saying that everyone in The Bible is a real person, and those people are not relevant here.] He is also no doubt used to family stories where exaggeration is the rule, not the exception. As such, it would be hard for a kid to recognize something like The Bible as fantasy.
Look at a from the perspective of the kid. You read about King David in The Bible, and then you read up on him in an encyclopedia that King David was an actual king, and that a lot of what is presented in The Bible actually happened. Scientists have actually argued that not only could Goliath have existed, but that David could have killed him with a sling exactly as described. The same applies to the crucifixion of Jesus; doctors have broken it down from a strictly medical perspective based on the biblical account. If there is that much fact then it has to be real right?
Obviously dealing with The Bible as a kid, where a lot of it really happened. It's easy to see why a kid would see a lot of it as fact. It doesn't help that one in four adults believe that The Bible is literally true, making it even harder to tell fact from fiction. As such, while on one hand I can see where the study makes sense, on the other I'm just not sure if telling whether or not any biblical character is fictional or not would be easy for any kid who has time to do the research rather than relying solely on what a researcher is asking. It may just be too complicated for a six-year-old kid to really differentiate between fact and fiction.
A major problem is that was not evidently addressed is that The Bible is a mix of fact of fiction. Unlike other fiction that children are likely to encounter where there is a definite line of fantasy; in biblical stories that line is harder to define. While there are any number of characters that are probably created out of whole cloth and others that are arguably amalgamations of actual people, there are also a lot of characters that can be looked up as real people. It needs to be noted that a lot of archaeologists have used The Bible as a starting point for their research, as have any number of other scientists.
That's something that needs to be considered here. From a six-year-old child's perspective it is easy to see any biblical character as a real person, especially as most of them were. This is not Greek mythology where the characters are obviously fictional; these may be fictionalized people, but they are still real people. (Note: I'm not saying that everyone in The Bible is a real person, and those people are not relevant here.] He is also no doubt used to family stories where exaggeration is the rule, not the exception. As such, it would be hard for a kid to recognize something like The Bible as fantasy.
Look at a from the perspective of the kid. You read about King David in The Bible, and then you read up on him in an encyclopedia that King David was an actual king, and that a lot of what is presented in The Bible actually happened. Scientists have actually argued that not only could Goliath have existed, but that David could have killed him with a sling exactly as described. The same applies to the crucifixion of Jesus; doctors have broken it down from a strictly medical perspective based on the biblical account. If there is that much fact then it has to be real right?
Obviously dealing with The Bible as a kid, where a lot of it really happened. It's easy to see why a kid would see a lot of it as fact. It doesn't help that one in four adults believe that The Bible is literally true, making it even harder to tell fact from fiction. As such, while on one hand I can see where the study makes sense, on the other I'm just not sure if telling whether or not any biblical character is fictional or not would be easy for any kid who has time to do the research rather than relying solely on what a researcher is asking. It may just be too complicated for a six-year-old kid to really differentiate between fact and fiction.
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