SOCIAL FACTORS IN RELIGION
Human social needs are not caused by influences that come from outside (stimulus) like animals. Social needs in humans are in the form of values. So these needs are not merely biological needs but also spiritual needs. The form of this need according to Guilford consists of:
1. Praise and insults Praise stimulates humans to pursue commendable achievements and positions, while insults awaken humans from mistakes and violations of social ethics.
2. Power and succumb This need for power and succumb is reflected in the existence of unending human struggle in life.
3. Association . Human needs that encourage humans to associate as homo socius (social beings) and zonpoliticon (organized creatures).
4. Imitation and sympathy . According to him, human needs in their relationships are reflected in the form of imitating and holding emotional responses. These actions, according to him, are as a result of the need for imitation and sympathy.
5. Caution . The need for attention is the only social need found in every individual.
RELIGION IN CHILDHOOD
1. The Development of Children's Religious Spirit
In the life span there are several stages of development. According to Kohnstamm, the stages of development of human life are divided into five periods,
a. Age 0 – 3 years, vital period or following.
b. Age 3-6 years, the aesthetic period or the period of trying and playing.
c. Age 6 – 12 years, intellectual period (school period)
d. Age 12-21 years, social period or youth.
e. Age 21 years and over, the adult period or a period of physical and psychological maturity of a person.
Elizabeth B. Hurlock formulates the stages of human development more fully as follows:
a. The prenatal period, from conception to birth.
b. Neonatal Period, from birth to the end of the second week.
c. Infancy, end of second week to end of second year.
d. Early Childhood, age 2 - 6 years.
e. Late Childhood, age 6 - 10 or 11 years.
f. Puberty (pre-adolesence), age 11-13 years
g. Early Adolescence, age 13 - 17 years. Late adolescence 17 - 21 years.
h. Early Adulthood, age 21 - 40 years.
i. Middle Age, age 40-60 years.
j. Old age, aged 60 years and over.
2. Religion in Childhood
As explained above, what is meant by childhood is before the age of 12 years. If you follow the periodization formulated by Elizabeth B. Hurlock, this period consists of three stages:
a. 0 – 2 years (vital period)
b. 2 – 6 years (childhood)
c. 6 – 12 years (school age)
Children know God for the first time through the language of the words of people in their environment, which are initially accepted indifferently. God for the child at the beginning is the name of something foreign and unknown to him and the goodness of his intentions is doubtful. The lack of concern for God in this first stage is because he has not yet had the experience that will take him there, both pleasant and troublesome experiences. However, after he witnessed the reactions of the people around him which were accompanied by certain emotions or feelings which became more and more widespread, his attention to the word god began to grow. The feelings of the child towards his parents are actually very complex. It is a mixture of many conflicting emotions and drives.
a mixture of pride, need, fear and love for him all at once. According to Zakiah Daradjat, before the age of 7 years, children's feelings towards God are basically negative. He tried to accept the idea of the greatness and glory of God. While their picture of God is in accordance with their emotions. Continuous belief about God, place and shape is not because of curiosity, but driven by feelings of fear and want to feel safe, unless parents educate children to know the pleasing nature of God. But in the second period (27 years and over) the child's feelings towards God change positively (love and respect) and the relationship is filled with trust and a feeling of security.
3. Stages of Religious Development in Children
In line with his intelligence, the development of a religious soul in children can be divided into three parts:
a. The Fairly Tale Stage
At this stage, children who are 3-6 years old, the concept of God is greatly influenced by fantasy and emotion, so that in responding to religion, children still use fantastical concepts that are covered by fairy tales that do not make sense. The story of the Prophet will be imagined as in fairy tales. At this age, children's attention is more focused on the religious leaders than the content of the teachings and the story will be more interesting if it is related to the children's time because it suits their childish soul. In his own way, the child expresses his theological views, his statements and expressions about God are more individual, emotional and spontaneous but full of theological meaning.
b. The Realistic Stage (Level of Confidence)
At this level the child's thoughts about God as a father switch to God as the creator. The relationship with God that was initially limited to emotions changes to a relationship using the mind or logic.
At this stage there is one thing that needs to be underlined that children at the age of 7 years are seen as the beginning of logical growth, so it is only natural that children must be taught a lesson and accustomed to praying at an early age and beaten if they break it. The Individual Stage
At this level, children have high emotional sensitivity, in line with
their age development. This individualistic religious concept is divided into three groups:
ü The concept of divinity is conventional and conservative with a little influence of fantasy.
ü The concept of divinity is purer, stated with a personal view (individual).
ü The concept of divinity that is humanistic, namely religion has become a humanist ethos in themselves in living the teachings of religion.
In connection with this problem, Imam Bawani divides the phases of religious development in childhood into four parts, namely:
a. The phase in the womb, to understand the development of religion at this time is very difficult, especially those related to spiritual psychology. However, it should be noted that the development of religion began when God breathed the soul into the baby, to be precise when the human agreement was made with his god,
b. Infant phase. In this second phase, not much is known about the development of religion in a child. However, many signs of introducing religious teachings are found in hadiths, such as sounding the call to prayer and iqamah at the birth of a child.
c. The childhood phase, the third period is the right time to instill religious values. In this phase the child has started to socialize with the outside world. He witnessed many things when dealing with the people around him. It was in this association that he came to know God through the words of the people around him. He saw the behavior of people who expressed their awe of God. Children at a young age do not yet have an understanding of carrying out Islamic teachings, but this is where the role of parents
introduces and accustoms children to carrying out religious actions even if they are only imitating.
d. School childhood. Along with the development of other aspects of the soul, the development of religion also shows an increasingly realistic development. This relates to the growing intellectual development.
4. The nature of religion in children
Religious traits in children can be divided into six parts:
a. Unreflective (less depth / without criticism)
the truth they receive is not so deep, it is just enough. And they are satisfied with information that sometimes doesn't make sense. According to research, new critical thinking appears in children aged 12 years, in line with moral development.
b. Egocentric
This egocentric nature is based on the results of Piaget's research on language in children aged 3–7 years. In this case, speaking for children does not have the same meaning as adults. At the ages of 7–9 years, prayer is specifically associated with certain activities or movements, but they are very concrete and personal. At the age of 9-12 years the idea of prayer as a communication between children and God begins to appear. After that, the content of the prayer shifts from egocentric desires to ethical issues directed at others.
c. Anthromorphic
The child's concept of divinity generally comes from his experience. When dealing with other people, children's questions about (how) and (why) usually reflect their attempt to relate abstract religious explanations to their subjective and concrete world of experience.
d. Verbalist and Ritualist
Religious life in children mostly grows from the cause of speech (verbal). They verbally memorize religious sentences and do the deeds they carry out based on their experiences according to the guidance taught to them. The prayers and prayers that appeal to them are those that contain movement and are usually performed (they are not foreign to them).
e. Imitative
Religious acts performed by children are basically obtained by imitating. In this case parents play an important role. The education of children's religious attitudes is basically not in the form of teaching, but in the form of
role models
f. Wonder
Wonder and awe are signs and religious traits in children. In contrast to the sense of wonder in adults, the sense of wonder in children is not yet critical and creative. They are only amazed at the outward beauty. For this reason, it is necessary to give understanding and explanation to them according to the level of development of their thinking. In this case, parents and religious teachers have a very important role.
source: ade
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