religion
11
CHILDREN
Sarah W. Whedon
INTRODUCTION Can we say that, in this moment, Alexandria
is a wicked child who has stolen the host and
transgressed the holy rite? Or is she an angelic child who can deliver salvation to a desperate
The 2008 film The Fall explores the vivid L imagination of a five-year-old girl named
Alexandria who is living out an extended hospi- tal stay for a broken arm. In one troubling scene, church? Perhaps she is an innocent child who
she has just stolen a Communion wafer from the
Catholic Church and carried it with her as she
adult, even outside the bounds of the formal
is entirely ignorant of the meanings layered onto this action? The US film-watching audi-
ence might slot her into any of these childhoodclimbed onto the hospital bed of her adult friend
Roy, a man much in need of healing, both of the tropes.
body and the heart. Alexandria takes a bite of the Communion wafer and feeds the rest to Roy,
who asks if she is trying to save his soul. But she
dOesnt seem to understand the question. What
are we to make of this scene? At minimum, we can say that by sharing
and partaking of the host, Alexandria is partici- pating in the ritual of Communion. Or can we? ls it really Communion if it is performed outside the boundaries of the church's authority, with a uve-year-old girl acting in the role of the eucha Tistic minister? We don't even know whether
Studying childhood religion is often as trou-
bling as interpreting this brief scene. We can try to pick apart externally observable ritual actions
adult imaginings of the state of children's souls,
and children's own interpretations of their reli-
gious experiences. These layers often contradict
each other and contound explanation. Dif ferences between adult and child perception,
language, and culture can make translation of
experience and understanding dithicult. This is
the challenge of child religious studies. This article takes up that challenge of per
Alexandria understands that the stolen object spective and interpretation by looking at chil-
has spiritual significance. dren's participation in religious communities
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Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
RELIGION AND CHILDREN AT THE MOVIES
The Fall is just one of many films that deals with theme of childhood religion film, the story of Alexandria's stay at the hospital is interwoven with colorfully imadinstories told to her by Roy. Tideland is another film in which a little girl's imaginationi vividly displayed on the big screen.
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys depicts Catholic sch00l children and their own reli giously informed imaginations. Meanwhile, horror films such as The Exorcist link child. hood and Catholic religion in terrifying ways. Little Buddha is a story about the quest to find the child who is the reincarnation of a recently deceased Buddhist lama (teacher). The road movie Indigo centers on the New Age notion of Indigo children, young people with indigo-colored auras and extrasensoryperceptions. The documentary Jesus Camp depicts the religious education of conserva- tive Protestant children.
on is
Watching films, both fictional and documentary, can reveal a great deal about chil- dren's religious experiences, although probably more often they directly reveal the adult writer's, producer's, and director's imaginations of children's religious experiences.
and rites from several perspectives and by exam- ining the different directions in which power and authority flow in relationship to children. It considers religious circumstances when chil- dren are expected to follow adult scripts, when
them as different sort of people from adults His work opened a subfield of historians dem- onstrating that expectations on children, and even understandings of when childhood ends,
have changed over time. Following this insight a lively production of children's histories has
emerged, although religion remains largely ignored by this subfield.
Meanwhile, sociologists such as Allison James, Chris Jenks, and Alan Prout have notice that childhood changes not only across time
but
also across cultures.3 They argue that schoas
should focus on childhood as a significant phase ot lite in and of itself, not simply as a stage
development toward the "real life of adulthood. And they suggest that we think aboutchildreu as a minority group, thus allowing us to co
sider children's social position and relationsh
they resist those scripts, and when they write
their own scripts. It begins with a brief con- sideration of who or what should be included in the category of analysis that is "religion and children.
THE HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD
Historians and anthropologists in the last several decades have contributed to a new understand- ing of childhood as socially and historically con- structed. Historian Phillipe Ariés is notable for drawing attention to childhood as a historical1 category, with a study of the European shift from
treating children as little adults to understanding
n-
rec
to power. This subfield, too, has largelyigno
religion. 216
Whedon, Children
Bevond the halls of academia, in the politi-
cal realm, the General Assembly of the United
Some Christians see children as basically sinful and in need of redemption, whereas oth- ers see them as pure and in need of protection. Central to this conversation about the condition
cal Nations ratified the Convention on the Rights
.
of the Child on November 20, 1989. The docu- of
ment is notable for treating children as persons
deserving of human rights and capable of par-
ticipating in decisions aftecting them. However,
it is remarkable that it took until 1989 for the
United Nations to formalize such a document
and that the United States has refused to sign it-given that children are always and every-
where significant members of society, although rarely given credit for this.
Among the rights granted children by this document is "the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion" The Con- vention on the Rights of the Child defines chil- dren as those persons under the age of eighteen, unless majority is conferred by a government at his positive view of children as abandoning the an earlier age. However, this is only one possible way of determining who is a child and who is an adult. This neat division between childhood and
of children's souls is Saint Augustine's idea of original sin, that is, infants sinfulness as a direct result of Adam's transgression in the Garden of Eden, redeemable by baptism, which should be performed as early in life as possible. Pessimism about infant sinfulness reached a low point in Protestant Reformer John Calvin's vision of childhood. Meanwhile, Anabaptists like Menno Simons rejected infant baptism, choosing to wait to baptize until children reached an age when they could choose consciously. Nineteenth- century theologian Horace Bushnell saw faith development as a gradual process rather than a sudden change through baptism. Many decried
notion of childhood sin, although ultimately his ideas proved popular. Throughout the history of the theology of childhood, Christian theologians adulthood neglects the historically relatively new have struggled with reconciling Augustine's doc- life phase of adolescence. In the United States,
tt eighteen years of age is old enough to drive a car or be drafted into the military, but it is still not old enough to consume alcohol or run for cer- tain political offices, and age of consent to marry differs across state lines. So it is not immediately obvious whether childhood includes infancy and the teen years or only the ages in between. A great deal of the religious treatment of clean or essentially sinful and in need of correc- children is rooted in a religion's definition of tion. There is much evidence of children imag- or conception of the child and childhood. This includes ideas about the time when childhood example, the narrative of the bad boys of Bethel
0p
trine of original sin with a belief in a just and th
merciful God. If we primarily wanted to know what reli-
gions have to say about adults imagining chil- dren, we would have abundant data. We could
***
look more closely at theological debates over original sin. We could look at questions of whether children are born essentially pure and
ined as little devils, or else as little angels. For gins and when it ends. It also includes ideas about what children are made of, capable of, and tinuing power over the centuries. The notion in need 1 of. Buddhists, for example, see the child of childhood innocence and special spirituality
in the biblical story of 2 Kings 2 has had con-
as Containing the Buddha nature, a kind of tun- damental goodness, at the same time as they are uSO Unique individuals because of karnia (the law of cause and effect through action).
occurs trequently in major religious mythol- ogy. "This childhood specialness is epitomized by prankster stories of the young Hindu deity Krishna, or by well- known Christmas carols that
217
Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
children are expected to play their prescr roles. Finally, children may ritualize
mythod
extol the infant Christ child's serenity and divin-
ity. These images of extraordinary or especially
spiritual children may or may not correlate with understandings and treatment of actual ordi- nary children within a religious culture.
It can be difficult to stretch our imaginations Births past these polarized narratives, past seeing the
ogize their lives in ways that are indep from adults' control.
little filmic Alexandria as an unwitting saint (or During pregnancy and birth, both fetuses, what a willful little devil). After all, it can be delightful to pass on stories about the amusingly innocent
utterances of small children, those funny things that children say about adults or about God. Out
of the mouths of babes may come great wisdom, but we may not, in fact, be well equipped to hear without the children. This is a critical point it. James Kincaid has observed a pattern of cul- tural imagination in which children are seen as
innocent and vacant, as empty vessels ready to be filled with adults desires and expectations, a pattern that challenges our ability to see real
children trulys Can we move beyond what we hope or fear to see when we turn our gazes upon
children? How do children actually behave in religious communities? How does their presence such as a ribbon blessed by a rabbi, or eating affect the shape of a religious community? How
do religions influence them, and how do they infuence religions? These are the kinds of ques- tions that the study of children and religion must
address. Although the research on these topics is sparse, this article provides the contours of the ways in which scholars can provide answers to
these questions.
might be considered future children, and actu ally birthed children can be ritualized. Manv a these rituals are more about the experiences and transitions of the parents, especially the mother but none of them have purpose or meaning
children's presence can make a significant difer ence for adult religious practice, experience, and identity.
Jewish women, both religious and secular, who gave birth in an Israeli hospital reported that most of their childbirth rituals were aimed at averting the threat of disaster for mother and baby. These rituals include wearing a charm,
particular foods, such as radishes. These women reported that birthing and getting to care for a
new, individual child felt to them like a miracde In the United States, birth is ritualized even
in secular hospitals. Anthropologist Robbie E.
Davis-Floyd has argued that US hospital births are organized around rituals that represent and
transmit core cultural valuing of science, tech
nology, and medical institutions. She sees thee
birth systems as rites of passage for the women
who give birth. CHILDREN IN RITUALS
Children participate in rituals in many different ways. In several cultures, childhood is ritualized often ritually welcomed into religious comnu beginning during pregnancy or at birth. Many nities. Often, names for children are caretully
Very shortly following birth, children are
ious rites of passage take place during the course of childs life. Children also participate in the significance. Muhammad, the name or
adult-centered rituals of a religious community. Both of these types of rituals are circumstances in which adults control the ritual script and
chosen and have familial or formal relig
inal prophet of Islanm, is one of the most pop
lar names in the world for day after birth, Jewish boys are circune
boys. On the eighth
218
Whedon, Children
spring festival of Shavuot, someone would carry the boy from his house to his teacher. There the teacher would show him Hebrew letters, read
sign of the covenant between God and the
a siß lewish community,
in a ceremony called a bris.
Christians of certain denominations are bap-
tized, a ritual that uses immersion or washing in
water to bring a person into membership in the
church. Wiccan babies are blessed, welcomed
into the community, and sometimes formally
given their names in a ritual calleda Wiccaning.
And when secular or interreligious parents have
to make often-difficult decisions about nam-
ing or ceremonies for a new infant, they make choices that have power to shape the child's reli
gious experience.
them out loud, and require the child to repeat the letters in various patterns. The teacher would then smear honey on the alphabet and ask the
boy to lick it off. Specially prepared foods with biblical verses written on them would be eaten, and the teacher would also teach the child an incantation to ward off forgetfulness and show the boy how to sway and chant when studying
his lessons. Thus the Jewish boy was initiated into his religious studies. By the late Middle
Ages, this ritual was replaced by the bar mitzvah ritual, which is performed for boys at the age of thirteen, thus pushing initiation into religious adulthood later and lengthening the time of
Rites of Passage
Rites of passage are ceremonies that mark tran-
sitions from one stage of life to another. Once a child is born, he or she may be given certain rites of passage that are chosen and performed
by adults, reflecting adult desires and expecta- tions for children. In many cultures, feeding a
child the first solid food is ritualized. In certain
childhood."
In the Roman Catholic Church, children of
age seven or eight participate in the first Com- munion rite, in which, for the first time, they
partake of the sacrament of the Eucharist, which they continue to do throughout their lives in the
Christian churches, baptism, first Communion, church. Susan Ridgley Bales has done innovative and confirmation all mark passages through childhood. Even the secular US celebration or Dirthday parties represents ritualized celebra- ons of children's development. Candles and
work with childhood anthropology to under-
stand children's experiences and interpreta- tions of this rite. She discovered that children's
cake, up gift giving, and the birthday song make interpretations are rooted much more in their
of their own birth but on their "name day," that
interpretations differ from those of adults. Their
h the ritual objects and actions of the child's bodily experiences, meaning from what they
rhday party. In some cultures, such as Catho- Poland, children do not celebrate on the date
take in with all five of their senses, rather than
from formal teaching that they receive about the
rite. It is probable that future research will reveal
that children in many religions have this sensory orientation, marking their experiences as difter
ent from adult narratives of the same rituals."
B, the birthday of the saint after which they were named.
ormal movement into religious childhood, or
Jewish boys marked their readiness to take on as
age five or six. Early on the morning of the
Many rites of passage for children mark their
medieval Europe, a rite of passage for Ashkenazi the important task of formal education as young
medieval beyond into eligious majority. For example, in Participation in Adult Community Rites
Many rituals that are adult-oriented or are
intended for an entire community include
children. Sometimes children are expected to
219
Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
were etaught that their guardian ang participate exactly as adults do, and sometimes
there are special roles for the children. Rob-
ert A. Orsi's examination of Catholic children prayedalongside them.10
1ards The Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwar toward hildren observes a persistent concern over children's
bodies, which were disciplined through behav-
ior at Mass, memorization of prayer, and the cult
of the guardian angel. He writes about a preoc-
cupation with children's bodily control at Mass and a persistent problem of the behavior of altar
boys. Orsi argues that this role of the altar boy
reflected the ambivalence toward children in th
gave sermons directed
mixed logical biblical content with appeals to emotion. Children responded to these sermo in a variety of ways. According to Edwards's ow reports, some children were convinced by him to give up play in favor of prayer meetings, and a few even used the emphasis on religious affect to justify public speaking themselves. Some children apparently found his jeremiads cathar. tic. Others struggled with a mixture of anxiety and despair at his Calvinist message of sinful. ness. Contemporary scholar Philip Greven sees Edwards's treatment of children as nothing short of psychological and physical abuse.
that
own
history of Western Christianity, seeing in them both innocence and evil. The altar boys in the
churches were seen by parishioners both as min-
iature saints and as constant misbehavers. Chil- dren were encouraged to memorize prayers but also to speak those prayers with passion. They
na and P
iens to
SUDerst
A young boy participales in his bar mitzvah ceremony at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
220
Whedon, Children
altar grew as a
le-class Protestant hom
ly activity.
erformed in the
a hymn or adult-l meditation. In these
iuals, children as well as adults had active roles most articulate children, who are the ones who
ould be as much a burden as a source of com-
tn the late nineteenth century, the family stories feature God fleeing from demons, angels
feeding on neon light, or the Blue Lady, who incduded children in whole fam- can keep children safe from bullets if they know stitution that inclu
instiu morning and the her secret name. In these stories, folklorists can evening,
family altar included Bible reading and find traces of older stories from Santeríae or
Mexican traditions. The ritual leaders are the often
tell the stories to new shelter arrivals. Some to play. Still,
tor some children, family altar
children even report having had visions of one of these supernatural beings. But, by about age twelve, children lose their sense of belief in
Coul
fort or positivefeeling Whether at church or at home, community
rituals with roles for children
have the capacity to stifle children, as well as to
empower them, sometimes.
and inspiration from these stories-or perhaps they decide they are too old to admit to believ- ing. These are stories of violence and salvation meant to be told by children to children, away from adult ears.4
Just for Childrenn
Very different from adult rituals that make space
for children, some rituals are developed by children and meant only for child participants.
Some of this folklore is less obviously religious,
such as the playground song "Ring around the that, after prayers and formal conversation over
Rosey, which some have thought memorialized plague, an interpretation that is not historically
substantiated. lona and Peter Opie's enormous collection of children's folklore from England, cloth, she imagined herself to have gone away on Scotand, and Wales includes a chapter on what might be called "superstition" and what they prefer to cal"half-belief" These are beliefs often expectations of the family. She writes, "I was in associated with small rituals engaged in pri- marily by children. For example, according to challenges, or decisions"5 This kind of autobio children's lore, upon spotting an ambulance, a graphical reflection on childhood activityn may child should perform self-protection by follow- be a profitable source of rich material for future
ng regionally variant but specific instructions SUaly involving touching his or her collar and
As individuals, children may also carve out their own secret spaces away from adult obser- vations. They may create mythology, lore, or rituals only for themselves. One woman recalls
the parsonage dinner table, when nobody was paying attention to her, she would slip her small body under the table. There, under the table-
what she called a "Moonie,' a time apart in her own private space, away from the prayers and
a private and magical spot. No eyes. No prayers
research on children's religious lives.
Another set of experiences that belongs wating to see a four-footed animal. These "half- entirely to the world of children is that of inmagi-
beiefs are passed among children rather than Deing taught by adults."
nary friends. In the secular Western context, children often speak of experiences with com-
Cities across the United States, white, black, and imaginary friends. Experience of or beliet in such in the homeless shelters of Miami and other panions seen only by then, often reterred to as
o1 sharing folktales-"secret stories" that they developing religious beliels in the unseen. When never reveal to parents or older siblings. These
Latino children have developed their own ritual unseen beings may relate directly to children's
asked if they have imaginary friends, children
221
Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
raised in Christian families sometimes answer boundaries or with limit support from adults These religious lives are contained in the realm that they have Jesus. This kind of slippage in
understanding the meanings of beings unseen is one reason why fundamentalist Christians tend
to dislike imaginary friends as much as they dis- like teaching their children to believe in Santa Claus, which they see as deceitful on the part of Material culture is the physical stuff of culture children and possibly representing the dangers A great deal of it can be found in children's reli. of Satan. Mennonites see play as a waste of time, gious worlds. Illustrated childrenis Bibles, toVs and Mennonite teachers are not positive about teaching manuals, videos, jewelry, clothes, holi what they see as pretenses, such as Santa Claus, yet they do approve of private fantasy, such as
imaginary companions. These kinds of compan- ions can be compared to experiences that Hindu children report that are related to remembering ber of special items for their protection, espe- past lives, something that parents take seriously up until about age seven, at which time they
expect children to focus on this current life So there are many ways in which children can animal ears, or in clothes with special protective develop religious lives outside of adult religious
of childhood.
MATERIAL CULTURE
day gifts, and so on make up children's experi ence of religion and are often crafted specifically for children's use.
Chinese children traditionally wore a num-
cially to ward off illness. Amulets of jade or coins were believed to ward off evil. Children were also dressed in bright colors, in hats with
symbols, all for supernatural protection."
CHILDREN AND PLAY
Many observers see play as one of the major defining characteristics of childhood. Some even consider play to be the work of childhood. Protectors of childhood inno cence hope to preserve time and space in which children may play. Although Jonathan
Edwards urged sinning children to set aside their play to attend to their religious lives,
play is not necessarily distinct from religiousness. It can be intimately linked to morality and spiritual experience.
Dr. Stuart Brown of the National Institute for Play believes that playing can help humans develop moral virtues such as compassion and trust. He describes chidre
ummersion in play as a spiritual experience, saying, "And I think seeing a young chld ust immersed in play and watching them closely is a spiritual experience. And there a emerging in play. Something nonmaterial that's a part of it that at least it's hard for
nu
to define in this as just ions zipping around in a nervous system. Dr. Brown's research builds on research on wild animal play, in a quest t stand hovw play benefits humans at all stages of life. Learn more about Dr. D ino of spective on play from the radio program "Play, Spirit, and Character" on 9peuav Farth, July 24, 2008, accessible at http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programsip
pirit
under
222
Whedon, Children
ownership, and sexuality, are often accused of abusing children. For example, the federal raid on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, was in part justified by accusations of child abuse in the religious community. More recently, the raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints in El Derado, Texas, was precipitated by a phone call indicating that an adolescent girl had been abused by a much older man to whom she had been married against her will. These kinds
day United States, Veggie
le of religious media produ
ldren. It began as animated
ed
Tiales is
an
example o
cifically for childre
featuring anthropomorphic vegetables
In the present-day
teach morality
based on Christian religion
books and
other children's products. These are
Am
hlms,
that
and Bible
stories, and then expanded
to include
children and with a
sense of children's playful-
Children may also experience the religious of accusations often seem to be as much about
ure. religious
teaching tools designed. specifically for
ness and imagination
in mind.
pen material culture
of a community quite differ-
ently from the adults in their community, who
also interact with it. The built environment is
generally organized around the needs of adult
bodies. Doors, pews, books, and dishes designed
for adults may be enormous, awe-inspiring,
unwieldy, or frustrating to children. The best aligns with this practice. James Dobson's Focus
explanation for the Bible from a child's perspec- tive could be "It's a big book and it's got small print or "It's what the Vicar reads from, rather than an adult perspective that it is the word of God or sacred Scripture.8 More research is matter of debate." Nevertheless, it is clear that needed to better understand children's interac-
anxiety over religious and sexual difference as about real harm, but they do give cause for care-
hcaly ful consideration.
In less hysterical tones, conservative Protes- tants have been identified as supporters of corpo- ral punishment and believers in a theology that ildren
ts with lectne on the Family is famously visible for preaching
this perspective on childrearing to conservative
Christians in the United States. Whether this amounts to or even can lead to child abuse is a
religion, for some children, is neither comfort- ing nor even simply boring, but rather stifling or
even violent.
tion with religious material culture. od. nno
HARM TO CHILDREN Children, of course, live where adults live, than
and one thing adults do is wage war, often tor
religious reasons or, at least, in religious terms.
So children's daily religious lives can be lives of
holy war and jihad as much as lives of peace and growth, and children are sometimes made sol- diers in these wars. The widely read diary of Anne
Frank records a Jewish girl's experience ot hid-
ing from Nazi soldiers during World War II. For some children, daily religious lite niay be more a
matter of survival than of innocence or grace
ives Although most religions that we can discoverhave something to say about children's rightand good roles and treatment within religion, t would be foolish to ignore the ways in whichmany children's daily religious lives are painuland dangerous. Religion sometimes becomesCOntext or provides justification for abuse of nildren. Public hysteria an make it difficult to determine when abuse
Tal
hel
rens
djiust
or e
around child abuse
actually occurring. Catholic priests have een accused of widespread abuse of childrenin their parishes and church schools. New reli
Under
bee ous
movements which often experiment
sper
king e AUTHORITY
Splay
with uncommon Questions ot authority are hugely signiticant in the study of religion and children. Adults
in structures for family, operty 223
Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
religious communities have often been deeply engaged in questions about how to develop
right authority over children, teaching them how to be humans, how to be religious peo- ple, and, eventually, how to be adults. At the same time, children often have creative ways of claiming authority within their communities. Often, they resist adult's expectations for them. Their reinterpretations of adults' stories, ritu- als, and material culture allow them to subvert
more specific formal structures for religous
instruction. In the United States, Sunday schooles marily created by philanthropists with pri the intention of providing basic education for work ing children, began opening their doors in 1790s. However, by 1830, a new sort of Sundae
the nday school was flourishing in the United States one in which volunteer teachers provided an evan
nil. gelical Protestant religious education for chi dren. These schools grew on a foundation of
authority. Children rarely are afforded a choice of whether to be a part of a religious community or event, whereas, in many contexts, adults have a choice, but the presence of children is almost certain to have an impact on the adults in the community.
growing belief that children were easier to resc with a religious message than adults were. It was hoped both that teaching Protestant doctrine to children would enable them to grow up religious and that they would educate their parents. The development of Sunday schools is intertwinedwith the history of public schools in the UnitedTeaching Children to Be Religious States.22
African Americans have a history of empha- sizing education for the betterment of their
young people. A contemporary African Ameri can Baptist church in Utah is a site where chil.
Adults socialize children into religion in both formal and informal contexts, teaching them about beliefs, practices, and ethical conduct. For example, in general it is considered to be the
responsibility of every Muslim adult to help in the dren are taught beliefs that aid them in resisting raising ofa new generation of Muslims who will oppression, and the church is a haven from rac uphold religious responsibilities and values. The Quran and Islamic religious law emphasize par- ents' responsibility to protect children, although through various narrative techniques in the they also create a reciprocal relationship in which classroom. This explicitly religious training, as children have responsibilities to parents.a"
Nineteenth-century theologian Horace training. helps black Baptist children to be more Bushnell, who wrote Christian Nurture, a book
ism for children. Sunday school teaches children the content and application of biblical stories
well as other practical skills such as computer
resilient.23
Similarly, in Detroit, the Pan African Orthe- ing about childhood, wrote, "We can never dox Christian Churchs community for childre come into the true mode of living that God has called Mtoto House, focuses on bettering youg
black children through faith and education. l Ine
daily schedule there support school attendance
and after-school studying, with prayer and reli
gious observance throughout. Each day no
three main eligious observan for the
chil
that profoundly influenced US Protestant think-
appointed for us until we regard each genera- tion as hovering over the next, acting itself into the next, and casting thus a type of character in the next, before it comes to act for itself"2i Here Bushnell argues for a complete religious shaping of the young by the previous generation. Many religious communities have also established
dren, made up of atirmations and prayets
bining Christian taith with racial empowernue 224
Whedon, Children
ing of the first affirmation of
the children. This concern is apparent in the case of "Hansel and Gretel' a well-known fairy tale in which children who come from a family that
cannot provide sufficient food are abandoned in the woods, where they encounter a wicked
witch and, when they triumph over her, gain the resources that the family needs. Over the course
of multiple revisions of "Hansel and Gretel"
changes included the addition of the children calling on God three times for help. This change
in the
opening of th
Israel. Jesus was taught The* Cov-
BlackNation
enant, the. the Law, and the Prophets.*
Thus adults morning:Z
every child growing up in
the
religious history, and theol
gy for the
benefit of the children.
Many Old
xplicitly link race,
Order Amish communities run
their own
schools for their children because they
prefer to protect
the children from what they see
as the malevolent forces of the modern world.
These schools' goals are
to teach religious val-
eS, as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic,
leaving aside much of the
curriculum of public
schools, which aims to teach information and
skills that are only useful ifthe children live in the
mainstream world. Amish children are taught
humility, obedience to God, and harmony with
their community, lessons that are well integrated
between school and home. One study has shown whether or in what religion to raise and teach
that Amish children who attend public schools
are more likely to identify with the outside cul-
ture than those who are educated by the Amish
transforms them into moral and faithful Chris-
tian children, and it is these qualities that enable
them to overcome the evil witch and return
to the morally appropriate authority of their
father's house. Through oral, literary, and filmic
narration, the latter largely through Disney, chil- dren continue to be socialized by fairy tales.27
In many childrens lives, the question of
a child is significant. Mixed-religion fami- lies must choose either explicitly or implicitly
whether to raise children in one or the other of
community.25
In many communities, storytelling is a
major vehicle for children's religious education. This has been true in Hindu families, where, in
the home, parents and grandparents told sto-
ries of the Hindu gods to children starting as
young as two years old. These stories instruct
youngsters in Hindu beliefs, and simply hear- ing the stories is thought to convey merit to the
children. In more recent years, this mythology has been conveyed to children via the modern media of comic books and television series.2
Fairy tales are another sort of storytelling or children. In the mid-nineteenth century,
the family's religions, both, or neither. This is
particularly a concern for Jewish communities
following the Holocaust, because of the dra-
matically reduced Jewish population, the Jewish law asserting that, formally, only children of a
Jewish mother are Jewish themselves (a Jewish father does not make a child Jewish), and a high
incidence of Jewish intermarriage. Thus, many
Jewish communities are concerned with encour
aging the Jewish rearing of any Jewish children.
In a related domain, parents and policymakers
alike have been concerned with the question of
whether orphans should be religiously matched
for adoption and what this means for individuals
me observers were concerned that fairy tales' ack of Christian content was problematic for audiences of children. The Brothers Grimm and Otner writers of fairy tales modified their narra-
and communities.2
Whether to raise children with a particular
religion is a concern, for ditterent reasons, for
members of new religious movements, who may
have chosen a religious tradition tor themselves
and value that opportunity for free choice in
tives to assuage these concerns for child protec-tion and necessar instructive noral content for 225
Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
matters of belief. Contemporary Pagans, prac a nostalgic lens, projecting innocence into both.titioners of a contemporary nature-based reli- However, popular celebration of Easter is realy a more child-centered holiday than Christm gious movement that draws on resources from
ancient pagan traditions, debate whether to raise is. Rather than crying when forced to sit on th their children with the stories and practices of lap of a shopping mall Santa Claus to fulfll adule their tradition or to separate these religious
components of their lives from their children
fantasies of children, children run to visit and pet an Easter bunny at the mall. Also, mother
unless or until the children ask for them. Some often report that they would prefer not to engage Pagans even argue that the magical and esoteric rites of their own lives are meant only for adults,
and they refuse to teach or include their children
as long as they remain children.
in the seasonal craft of dyeing Easter eggs but that they do it because their children demand it of them.
Attention to children's understandings of God or the divine also reveals children's ability be active meaning-makers. A study of Catho-
lic, Jewish, Baptist, and Hindu children's concep tions of God revealed that children are hungry for direct interactions with deity, although often seeing formal ritual as dry obligation. These
children frequently used maternal and pater.
Children as Active Meaning-Makers
Although adults may wish to have complete
power over the religious development of the children in their charge, children are not nec-
essarily passively socialized by parents, teach- ers, or religious leaders. Rather, they have many nal imagery for God, reflecting their daily lived
ways to subvert authority and reinterpret beliefs and rituals passed to them by older generations.
Drawing on interviews, observations, and for intimacy
mother's field diaries, Cindy Dell Clark demon- strates that US children are active participants in experiences present in their religious imagina-
shaping the meanings for the childhood experi
ences of celebrating Christmas, Easter, and vis-
its form the tooth fairy. Clark finds that, even
though mothers talk about rituals around child- hood visits from the tooth fairy as demonstra- tions of children's innocent capacity for belief found that notions of God were highly adapt
thus maintaining their childishness, children see able to children's particular psychological needs, this time as an important step in growing up- when their bodies change and they are rewarded observed not in the formal religious
institutions3
through the adult medium of money. Christmas is a holiday that Clark sees as
largely about how adults situate themselves in relationship to children. Power is given to chil- dren in the celebration, because adults plan such activities as gift giving according to expected Children's perception and thinking nor tradi child responses. At Christmas, adults consider
both the developmental and historical past with
.
experiences, but they also had a sense of Gods more-than-human power, ubiquity, and capacity
Similarly, Robert Coles saw children's daily
tion, arguing that children's representations of God matched their own features, although privileged children think less about the anthro
Pomorphic particularities of God than those
who struggle with their own appearance. Coles
especially in times of crisis, something Coles
of churches or temples but working as a pedhai
cian at a Boston hospital.3
When Children Change Adult Communities
only tradi-
shifts the meanings of existing religious
gious
tions, but also children's presence in a relg
226
Whedon, Children
Inn
new
religious
move
hange the community itself. When Children Change Adults
a
communi previously
made up entirely of
vements, the birth of a new
d thus the entry of
children into
munity can cha.
Just as the presence of children can change the shape or activity of a religious community, they can also have an impact on the identities, behav- iors, and attitudes of adults. In other words,adult
converts-ca change the structure of the
resents a
umber of problems to the commu-
community ano
als A generation
and the content and style of ritu-
of children with Pagan parents adults can become, or are expected to become,
different sorts of people when they have children in their religious lives.
An example of this phenomenon can be
found in the alternative education movement of
debate whether to include chil-
nities. Adults
dren in ritual practice
or wait until they reach
jority. Some adults argue that the religion is
Waldorf schools. Based on the esoteric teachings of nineteenth-century Austrian Rudolf Steiner,meant specifically
for adults, and others argue
for the value of allowing
children to find their
Own religious paths rather than indoctrinating
children into a religion chosen by the parents,
as the parents wish their parents had done for
round the world these schools use a curriculum
based on an understanding of children as unfold-
ing and developing threefold beings-made up of hands, heads, and hearts. In this system, teach- ers have the responsibility of supporting children
not only in their intellectual growth but also in
their physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. As such, Waldorf teaching is, ideally, not just a
job but a calling-involving a whole life com- mitment to the work, including a commitment to stay with a class through eight grades and a
commitment to tasks such as daily meditation on
the children in their care. Teachers become like
them. Routinization of Paganism is occurring
partly as a result of this new generation. Many
parents want standard traditions to pass on to
their children, and they no longer have the time to create new rituals on a regular basis because
of the demands of parenting. This routiniza-
tion manifests in debates over questions such as whether to pay full-time clergy or whether to purchase land, issues that have wide-rangingg afects on the adult community, even when chil dren are not present.32
Pagans have experienced an increase in births of children in their communities in the
mothers, doing intense emotional labor. Meanwhile, in concert with the school envi-
ronment, parents are also expected to transtorm
their homes and parenting styles to become
ideal nurturers. This includes limiting or entirely forbidding television watching at home, filling the home with children's toys and other objects
late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, but, at the other end of the spectrum, religions an also be affected by choices not to have chil-aren. At its height, the American Shaker move Cnt helped increase its numbers by taking in orphans. Because the community embraced bacy, its adherents bore
made from natural materials such as silk or
wood, and modeling joyful homemaking for
young children. In this context, the well-being
and healthy development of the child is thought
to depend on the model of self and home that
parents and teachers present. Thus, in the Wal-
dorf context, the right teaching of spiritual chil-
dren also means the creation of particular kinds
of spiritual adults.3
wn, so it became a community that would not no children of their
ave younger biological have with. have vindled to those that can be counted on
generations to contend wenty-first-century numbers of ShakerTS
the fingers of a single hand. 227
Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
There are other contexts in which Sometimes, religious adults are expected
not only to
from children. In the New Testament, the Gos- pel of Matthew records that Jesus said, "Unless you change and become like little children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven" Chris- tians who follow this Scripture consider how to
turn to children for spiritual insight, times believing that they have sensory
teach children but also to learn adults
some beyond the ordinary therefore something to teach adults. The story of the Cottingle fair ies is that, in 1920, Arthur Conan Doyle pub. lished photographs that he believed showeobserve children in order to discover how too real fairies. The photographs had been taken hu a pair of cousins, aged ten and sixteen, behindthe house where they were living in Cottinpleu England.
The Fox sisters, whose experiences are acknowledged as the beginning of modern Spir.itualism, were about the same age as the girlswho supposedly saw the fairies when the sistersfirst heard the rappings of a spirit in their home in New York State. These young sisters were so eagerly listened to that their story marks the birth of what became, in the nineteenth century, a popular religious movement, many partici- pants in which were adults who could gain com-
fort through a mediums communication with
change and become like them.
"BECOME LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN"
The following verse from Matthew 18:1-6 of the New International Ver-
sion translation of the Bible records
teachings by Jesus on children and childishness:
'At that time the disciples came
to Jesus and asked, "Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had
their deceased children. The difficulty with the ways in which
children transform adults is that, because of him stand among them. 3And he
said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little chil
dren, you will never enter the king- dom of heaven. 1Therefore, whoever
humbles himself like this child is the
this process, discussion of childhood quickly becomes discussion of adulthood, and, before we know it, real children have slipped from our
view. In public debates about children, "rallying for children's welfare becomes the front for other
agendas, whether that of upholding a pristine
vision of marriage, polishing a tarnished mem-
ory of stay-at-home mothers, or defending tam
ly diversity regardless of the costs."H Because
beliefs about and morals surrounding childre give adults something to do and be, it
is easy tor
conversations that are ostensibly about childreu to become, in reality, conversations about adut
lhis is the trap that this article has continualuy
tried to avoid throughout the consideration ne
of children and religion.
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little
child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.'
228
Whedon, Children
CoNCLUSION
L childhood trope
describes little Alexan-
bered like pale flippers on a walrus out of its element. My embarrassment ran scarlet and deep, hidden under my clothes." ribes litle Alexan-
So what
dna of th f the big
screen?
All reen? All
of the ones consid-
if she were nonfictional,
hat none of them fit. A childhood, filled with amusements that accom
we
uld have
to say tha:
Ould nderstood as a person, not a cipher plish no work, looks very unlike a childhood that
ilo faith-a
person shaped by the specificity
of siblings. She also realizes that there is nothing
Leah recognizes that her conception of
child is
best under
which we may
pour our adult
ered.
ere can
hit. Or, if she
were nonfictional,
adult hopes, fears, requires labor for survival and care for younger
into whic
sor her religious
locatic
or h nd shaping that situation. Were emerges from childhood. Compared to her, her
and fait ation and also constantly natural or obvious about the age at which one
Alexand
a real child, we
would need to dis-
ver her as
an agent of fher own religious expe
interpreting and African friends do not seem to be children at all. So the description of childhood for her time and
ience. a5 well as
someone who changes religious place does not hold in another culture, and the
hife for adultslts around her, such as her friend Koy. chronological age of childhood is not fixed.
We cannot assume
that we know what it means It is tempting to view childhood as a step
on the way to adulthood. Although it is interest-
for her to be a
child.
Another fictional character,
Leah Price, the ing and important to think about how children's
daughter of a US missionary
to Africa in Bar-
bara Kingsolvers novel The Poisonwood Bible, is
stunned by this realization about her own child-
hood when she compares herself to her African
religious lives are but a part of a life course that also includes adolescence, adulthood, and old
age, we must not reduce childhood to a mere
means to an end. Children "are in fact already somewhere, not just on their way to an adult
destination.% We can learn a great deal about
religion and about religious people by tocus-
ing on the "somewhere" where children live. Indeed, because children in religion have only rarely been carefully studied, there is still a great
deal more to be learned about them, making the
ried the family's baby everywhere she went and field of religion and children an exciting arena in
friend Pascal.
It struck me what a wide world of differ-
ence there was between our sort of games-
"Mother May 1?," "Hide and Seek"-and his:
"Find Food," "Recognize Poisonwood," "Build
a House" And here he wasa boy no older than
eight or nine. He had a younger sister who car
hacked weeds with her mother in the manioc which to work.
field. I could see that the whole idea and busi-
ness of Childhood was nothing guaranteed. It seemed to me, in fact, like something more or
less invented by white people and stuck onto the front end of grown-up life like a frill on a dress. For the first time ever I felt a stirring of
anger against my father for making me a white
GLOSSARY
Child Abuse: Physically or emotionally harmful
treatment of children. Religious communities preacher's child from Georgia. This wasn't my have often been accused of fostering child abuse. fault. 1 bit my lip and labored on my own small house under the guava tree, but beside the Childhood: A socially and historically con- perlect talents of Pascal, my own hands lum-
structed period of the human life course, during
229
Part 2 Religion and Culture in the Space of Ethics
starts somewhere between birth and a couple of
years old and ends somewhere between puberty and age twenty-one.
which the person is considered a child. It usually Boylan, Anne M. Sunday School: The Formation of an American Institution, 1790-1880. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988 Bunge, Marcia J, ed. The Child in Christian Thought. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001 Examples of children's religious material culture Clark, Cindy Dell. Flights of Fancy, Leapsof Faith: Children's Myths in Contemporar o
Material Culture: Physical artifacts of a culture.
include Bibles, teaching videos, amulets, and ritual clothing.
America. Chicago: University of ChicapRite of Passage: A ritual marking transition from one stage of life or social status to another. Examples of rites of passage in childhood are Kincaid, James R. Erotic Innocence: The Culture
bris, Wicaning, first Communion, and bar or
Press, 1995.
of Child Molesting. Durham, NC: Duke Uni versity Press, 1998.bat mitzvah.
Socialization: Sociological term for the process Marcus, Ivan G. Rituals of Childhood: lewish
Acculturation in Medieval Europe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.
by which children learn to behave within a par- ticular society through the implicit and explicit teachings of parents, schools, religious commu- nities, and others.
Ziolkowski, Eric. Evil Children in Religion, Lit- erature, and Art. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
Zipes, Jack. Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Chil dren, and the Culture Industry. New York: Routledge, 1997.FOR FURTHER READING
Bales, Susan Ridgley. When I Was a Child: Chil- dren's Interpretations of First Communion. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2006
230