Religion Is Natural

Despite its considerable intellectual interest and great social relevance, religion has been neglected by contemporary developmentalpsychologists. But in the last few years, there has been an emerging body of research exploring children’s grasp of certainuniversal religious ideas. Some recent findings suggest that two foundational aspects of religious belief – belief in divine agents,and belief in mind–body dualism – come naturally to young children. This research is briefly reviewed, and some future directionsare discussed.