Do children have religious beliefs, and how are they different from adult ones? Clearly, the question is of interest to anthropologists who need to understand how religious representations are acquired and therefore how cultural assumptions are transmitted from generation to generation. The question is also of importance to developmental psychologists, for what children grasp of religious concepts and beliefs may illuminate how they build complex conceptual structures on the basis of limited input. Surprisingly, studies of the development of religious concepts are still few and far between. They are not really satisfactory either, for two reasons. One is that such studies often apply to developmental phenomena views of adult religious concepts that have no sound cognitive basis. Another reason is that such studies generally ignore a wealth of anthropological material concerning the diversity as well as the recurrent features of religious concepts. This is why the first part of this chapter deals with religious representations in adults, introducing a cognitive framework based on anthropological evidence. We then argue that this framework makes it possible to evaluate the relevance of recent developmental evidence to an understanding of religious concepts, and to specify in what ways children's religious concepts differ from the adult versions.

“Religion” in the ordinary sense combines (among other things) at least five different domains of representations, to do with (i) the existence and specific powers of supernatural entities, (ii) a particular set of moral rules, (iii) notions of group identity (“our” religion is not “theirs”), (iv) types of actions (rituals but also daily routines or avoidances), and, sometimes, (v) particular types of experiences and associated emotional states (the main focus of W. James's psychology of religion).