ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on related research on concepts of morality and religious prescription. The research asks two questions: whether morality constitutes a conceptual and developmental domain distinct from concepts about religious behavioral standards akin to societal conventions; and whether one’s identification of the moral is ultimately independent of religious prescriptions. The chapter addresses the issues bear on arguments raised by theologians and philosophers since Plato’s time regarding the relationship between morality and religious values. There is a substantial literature dealing with research on children’s social concepts in secular contexts which indicates that morality constitutes a cognitive-developmental dimension irreducible to concepts about social convention. The chapter looks at the evidence with respect to children’s concepts of morality in the context of religious value systems. The research is a first step toward a comprehensive account of the development of children’s moral concepts and their notions of religious rules.
