Do religions have a big problem explaining why young children aren't innately good?

Question

We all know that children aren't born knowing right from wrong straight away, but rather we develop a conscience over the years.

This makes perfect sense if you accept our evolutionary origins - there is no evolutionary advantage to being unselfish and considerate as a very young child, you are helpless and you just need to get fed and protected and survive even if your siblings perish. However, when we're adults and we have to look after ourselves, there are huge survival advantages in being caring and co-operative with each other, so any genes which promote this trait will tend to proliferate in a population.

If we were really products of a god, who made us with a moral sense, then it would seem reasonable to expect that very young children would be the most moral individuals, since they would be closest to the unsullied design of said deity.

That's why I think religion has a big problem explaining morality compared to how well it's accounted for by evolution.

Agreed?

Answer 1

*applause* Very much agreed. You deserve a hug!

Answer 2

Infants and young children are indeed a blank slate, morally and religiously speaking. They do what they can to survive...a perfectly normal instinct shared by all creatures. Since they are nearly helpless, what they do is usually very self-oriented...and not always nice or considerate.

That said, no one should expect adult morality or ethics from an infant or small child. Their primary goal is to stay alive until they can survive on their own.

Answer 3

Gosh, I have a lot to say about that, but I want to just focus on one point you made that I don't quite understand. You seem to be arguing, on the one hand, the morality is something we develope through experience. We aren't born with it. Yet you seem to be saying, on the other hand, that morality is built into the genes and is naturally selected. If morality is built into the genes, then children WOULD be born with it, wouldn't they? And if it's merely a product of our environment, then it's NOT something built into our genes.

Answer 4

No, religion doesnt have a hard time about that. If you believe in the idea in the misconception of original sin, then children are born sinful. BUT, DO THEY COMMIT SINS???,
By being who they are, are they commting sins(as we know them). Or are they only learning to have a moral sense, along with everthing else that they learn?

Answer 5

Human beings are born as very selfish creatures. If parents get a divorce, kids naturally think it's somehow THEIR fault, because they see themselves as the absolute center of all creation. It's up to the parents (and religion) to teach the kids how to peacefully co-exist in a world that's full of other humans.

Answer 6

there are also huge survival advantages to stealing and killing to benefit your self. I think evolution has a bigger problem explaining morality.

Christians do not believe that the child is innately good, because the bible does not teach this. The bible teaches that because of Adams sin, all are born with a sin nature that shows its self early in childhood.

Answer 7

my church dosen't believe that way. we believe children are not born with adams sins and they can't tell the difference from right or wrong till they are much older. if they die when they are little they go to heaven because they have done nothing wrong.

Answer 8

Children aren't born inherently good because they have a sin nature, just like everyone else who was born since Adam and Eve (except Jesus).

Answer 9

i think u r absolutely wrong. sorry, but God originally created Adam and Eve w/ out blemish or sin until Satan came and tempted them; and evil came into the world and now everyone is born a sinner.
p.s. what is ur religious denomination?

Answer 10

i agree, following any particular religion is preatty much to think and believe like the rest, and have power