Teacher Has Her 3rd Grade Students Asking Questions To God And Their Letters Are Beautifully Innocent
Jean Piaget, the Swiss pioneer of child development, thought that children were incapable of having a true concept of God; they just thought of him as a supersized, magical version of their parents. More recent studies have expanded on this, showing that significant differences detected between younger and older children support the view that children under 10 or 11 years of age are unable to formulate an abstract conceptual framework demanded for an adequate concept of God.
Recently, a 3rd-grade teacher proved this by asking her students to write a letter to God. The little ones penned hilariously innocent messages, putting their naive notion of the supreme being on full display.
The letters probably would have gone under the radar but Twitter user @GospelJosiah somehow obtained and shared them with the rest of the Internet.
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Gospel Josiah, a content writer, public relations expert and an investigative journalist, got hold of these letters after a friend of his in the United States thought he'd love them and sent them to him. "I was fascinated by the minds of the kids," Gospel Josiah told Bored Panda. "Like, how can kids of the age be so critical and succinct about their wishes. It was amazing from the first to the last letter. I had no option than to share it to everyone on my social media platforms."
"A lot of people are enthralled by the minds and confidence of the kids. Some see it as a way to learn and ask new questions about their beliefs while some others just love the cuteness if the hearts and handwritings of the kids."
Gospel Josiah said most of his threads go viral because each of them — whether written by him or someone else —resonates around his critical thinking and practical analysis of life.
Puppy, baby brother. What's the difference? You can teach them both how to fetch.
One of the most controversial works in modern religious education is that of Goldman who assessed the general "readiness" of children to acquire certain religious concepts by having children respond to his Picture and Story Religious Test. The test consists of three pictures and three Bible stories.
The results were similar to the ones we mentioned previously. "The significance of Goldman's stage delineation lies in its application to religious education," W. Chad Nye and Jerry Carlson explained. "He suggested that children should not receive formal Bible instruction before 10 or 11 years of age." This position was defended with the argument that religious thinking is formed at a very abstract level and beyond the young child's developmental ability.
that is pure adorable! there's a song that says God placed the stars in the sky and knows them by name so i used to ask the stars what their names were and then be sad that they didnt answer me!! i was weird!!!
Good question. I'm sure we all know a few who just have a "business" relationship
Yes Neil bc God is Love so His House is Love and That's Why you Kiss, Love.
It Says, Dear God, My Brother Is A Rat. You Should Give Him A Tail. Ha Ha. -Danny
This is horrible if it's a public school, and if it's truly as simplistic as the story implies. How could a teacher think it's appropriate to indoctrinate kids into his/her religion???
This is very likely a private Christian school.
This was actually from the 1960's. These are not new letters.
That would make sense then
I agree this is not appropriate for a public school
Clearly Pre 1980 if kids are writing cursive at that age. Which does make you wonder why there's such a high disparity in the handwriting.
Andrew Gould yes
Andrew Gould what
I mean really Kate? That's what you got out of this..?
Yeah, Eagle Girl, not only her, but many others.
Of you mind if i slap you in the face for being this stupid? The Pledge of Allegiance legitimately says: “Under God” Now, I want you to think about that, how they put god, a religious figure into something people in school have to repeat everyday, shut yo butt up about It being inappropriate for sharing their religion, and it’s not forcing them into it so stop being stupid
Kate Patton what
Kate Patton like
Kate Patton follower
Kate Patton easy
I was thinking exactly the same thing. It would have to be private.
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There's a difference between indoctrination and teaching children the concept of a god and what it stands for. I didn't read anything that even remotely hints to indoctrination and I'm quite sure that the parents of those kids already have told them about God. In time each of those kids will decide for themselves if and how they are going to integrate religion into their lives. I also think your rant is a little hypocrit since children also have to pledge allegiance to the flag : "I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Also "In God we trust", is the official motto of the United States of America, printed on every note and coin. How's that for indoctrination?
Just identifying other cases of indoctrination does not make this case of indoctrination less evil. No signs? According to those that look like children wrote them, this is like 1st grade. In THAT age, no child can understand that, so basically everything is indoctrination - if not attempted, wait till they ask "is this really true?" - and then imagine, a 1st grade teacher, saying "well, maybe, we don't really know, but get along without gods just as fine as with gods...". If you're too young for Darwin, you're too young for genesis.
That " in God we trust " thing wasn't in the original pledge. It was added in the 50s to save us from something. Elvis or communism nobody remembers which.
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If it is a public school in America that's not legal.
Public schools may not teach religion, although teaching about religion in a secular context is permitted. The Bible may be taught in a school, but only for its historical, cultural or literary value and never in a devotional, celebratory or doctrinal manner, or in such a way that encourages acceptance of the Bible as a religious document.
Rowan Good response!
Rowan -
Technically, it's not Constitutional. As long as it is not a religious doctrine class. I went to Catholic school and to public. We NEVER even mentioned God/Bible, etc in the latter b/c --- duh --- PUBLIC. Not their job to deal with religion, that's for families. And if they teach about one religion, they should teach about all of them ---- Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, et cetera. (That last is my opinion.)
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Huh? If you don't believe in God, think about it as writing to Santa. Hope that is not "an indoctrination".
Santa Claus was a real person.
Writing to Santa is not at all on the same level as preaching your religion to impressionable children
Unfortunately, these are ALL hand written by adults trying to write like children. Why not just type them out? Also, no idea why there is a big controversy here about kids writing to God. Let kids talk to God, who cares, it doesn't mean these kids are "religious"
A comment from above said these are from the 1960s I don't know how true this is but kids can have good handwriting
You are SO right, also it's SUPER obvious that the adults wrote it (there are two notes signed "Nan," and one signed "Mickey D.") Ugh.🙄😬
Yeah, ok, but which God? Because if they are writing only for the Cristian one its just wrong.
These are hilarious!
Completely and utterly fake. Clearly written by adults trying to write/sound like children. So contrived and all for worthless praise.
Were these re-written by a teacher? Because that is not what children's' handwriting looks like.
These seem very fabricated. There's just something about the way they are written. It looks and reads like adults trying to be children. I cannot place it exactly, but there's something about this that says children did not write these at all.
Went to Catholic school. If you think this is 'indoctrination"? try a religious-backed private school. This is a demonstration of how kids think. And, btw, I will be asking GOd about the platypus should I get the chance. Poison stinger, looks like a duck and a beaver got mixed up in a Star Trek transporter, and it's a mammal but lays eggs. What the what?!
I’ll bet he sneezed while making that one, too.
I heard a comedian reference the platypus as: the only creature that lays eggs and produces milk, and therefore the only creature who can make it's own custard XD
If you don't believe in god, never let anyone force you to pray, to write to god, to pledge anything, to - in any way - pretend as if you believe. Stand up for your rights - stand up for your freedom to NOT believe (unless you do believe). It's not a privilege, it's a damned right that shouldn't even be questioned anywhere at all.
Thanks for making this point. I registered as a BP user just so I could give it my upvote.
Pretty sure these are old. Kids aren’t taught cursive anymore and all the kids names aren’t modern.
Regardless of when they were written, it's amazing to me how many people couldn't even READ the cursive! Scary.
This comment section is considerably less offensive than I was expecting. Good job everyone. You pass the vibe check.
"Dear Teacher: my mom says all Republicans are Nazis". No dissent. Good job Timmy! A plus!
You get that even Arnold Schwarzenegger is a rep, don't you? At least he is very well known to be anything and everything and all of that even twice, but not a Nazi. And there are a lot of non-Nazi reps ... although the party has taken itself apart and got messed up pretty bad and stuff, this is just too simple.
"Dear Teacher. All people who characterize people into 2 extreme groups are nazis." Example: The nazis characterizing all Germans as good and all Jews as bad. Example 2: Racist white people characterizing all black people as criminals and all white people as incapable of evil. Example 3: "Woke" people characterizing all Cops as evil when there are clearly good cops and bad cops. Example 4: "woke" people characterizing All conservatives as Nazis.
You're right. Not all Republicans are racists. Some of them stick to just hating poor people.
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Well racist white people tend to vote republican so...... she's not wrong.
Im not disagreeing that there are racist republicans. Im disagreeing with ALL republicans. There are quite a few of us who disagree with the direction of the party.
Disappointed BP is passing this off as "recently" done.
Yeah so was I, I've seen these around and knew they were from the 60s. And I think bp has posted these before too
This is FAKE!
I knew these were old but I didn't take the time to analyze the social implications so I thought they were funny. My bad. I'll reread and be properly offended this time.
This is fake. I scrolled through quickly and this is not the work of 3rd graders. Far too little spelling and grammar mistakes and the handwriting is off kilter. And if you give an average sized class an existential question like this...I'm sorry these answers are just too "cute". Sounds like the Karenish school of philosophy.
This post seems completely fake to me. First, the names: Norma, Joyce, and Marsha? What is this, from 1940? Also, the penmanship is not aligned with third graders.
This seems like it's form 1940 or something. What kids in 2020 are named Norma, Joyce, and Marsha? I feel like this entire post is fake.
Must everyone take innocence and purity and turn it into a negative? I thought it was neat just to see what an innocent pure of heart child ask such an omnipotent God. Whether you believe or dont believe isnt the point. And this isn't "religious" it's spiritual.
There’s a book about this! I don’t remember what it’s called but it’s filled with all of these!
Isn't that sort of abusing children? Fiddling with their perception of the world like this (god made giraffes? he can see your shoes at church?) is highly disturbing and should be made illegal.
Christians believe that God sees everything and He created everything. If they want to teach children that, it's not abuse, just religious theories. My only problem is when they start drilling racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. into their heads.
Nivits Yibble It's possible that this is a Christian school. In that case the parents are probably fine with schoolteachers teaching their kids those sorts of things, because they believe them also.
Sorry, I meant agree with your 3rd sentence in my post below - not 2nd
Nevits Yibble Good response!
Agree with your 2nd sentence, but the problem with the first is Christians arrogantly assume the rest of us are supposed to care what they believe. Maybe it's important to them personally, but to an outsider like me it’s pile of cultish medieval nonsense. A schoolteacher is in a position of authority. They’re free to believe whatever spook worshiping crazy they want, but they have no right to push that s**t on other people’s children.
a dose of reality love
Once in church I asked as a kid if "God could see my thoughts." The teacher said yes and now I still force down random thoughts to this day!
Wolfowl what
This comment has been deleted.
To which God(dess) to they pray to?
I think it's the Christian God
I don't think kids know the difference.
Welp this totally impacted my atheist view of God
If this is a public school... there's so much wrong with it I don't even know where to start
This is a book from the 90's
1960’s
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Yes, because nothing is quite as wholesome and adorable as indoctrination.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Our world is doomed!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Maybe it would be better to teach kids to behave responsibly, try to figure out these answer by learning instead of teaching them fairy tales
This is horrible if it's a public school, and if it's truly as simplistic as the story implies. How could a teacher think it's appropriate to indoctrinate kids into his/her religion???
This is very likely a private Christian school.
This was actually from the 1960's. These are not new letters.
That would make sense then
I agree this is not appropriate for a public school
Clearly Pre 1980 if kids are writing cursive at that age. Which does make you wonder why there's such a high disparity in the handwriting.
Andrew Gould yes
Andrew Gould what
I mean really Kate? That's what you got out of this..?
Yeah, Eagle Girl, not only her, but many others.
Of you mind if i slap you in the face for being this stupid? The Pledge of Allegiance legitimately says: “Under God” Now, I want you to think about that, how they put god, a religious figure into something people in school have to repeat everyday, shut yo butt up about It being inappropriate for sharing their religion, and it’s not forcing them into it so stop being stupid
Kate Patton what
Kate Patton like
Kate Patton follower
Kate Patton easy
I was thinking exactly the same thing. It would have to be private.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
There's a difference between indoctrination and teaching children the concept of a god and what it stands for. I didn't read anything that even remotely hints to indoctrination and I'm quite sure that the parents of those kids already have told them about God. In time each of those kids will decide for themselves if and how they are going to integrate religion into their lives. I also think your rant is a little hypocrit since children also have to pledge allegiance to the flag : "I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Also "In God we trust", is the official motto of the United States of America, printed on every note and coin. How's that for indoctrination?
Just identifying other cases of indoctrination does not make this case of indoctrination less evil. No signs? According to those that look like children wrote them, this is like 1st grade. In THAT age, no child can understand that, so basically everything is indoctrination - if not attempted, wait till they ask "is this really true?" - and then imagine, a 1st grade teacher, saying "well, maybe, we don't really know, but get along without gods just as fine as with gods...". If you're too young for Darwin, you're too young for genesis.
That " in God we trust " thing wasn't in the original pledge. It was added in the 50s to save us from something. Elvis or communism nobody remembers which.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
If it is a public school in America that's not legal.
Public schools may not teach religion, although teaching about religion in a secular context is permitted. The Bible may be taught in a school, but only for its historical, cultural or literary value and never in a devotional, celebratory or doctrinal manner, or in such a way that encourages acceptance of the Bible as a religious document.
Rowan Good response!
Rowan -
Technically, it's not Constitutional. As long as it is not a religious doctrine class. I went to Catholic school and to public. We NEVER even mentioned God/Bible, etc in the latter b/c --- duh --- PUBLIC. Not their job to deal with religion, that's for families. And if they teach about one religion, they should teach about all of them ---- Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, et cetera. (That last is my opinion.)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Huh? If you don't believe in God, think about it as writing to Santa. Hope that is not "an indoctrination".
Santa Claus was a real person.
Writing to Santa is not at all on the same level as preaching your religion to impressionable children
Unfortunately, these are ALL hand written by adults trying to write like children. Why not just type them out? Also, no idea why there is a big controversy here about kids writing to God. Let kids talk to God, who cares, it doesn't mean these kids are "religious"
A comment from above said these are from the 1960s I don't know how true this is but kids can have good handwriting
You are SO right, also it's SUPER obvious that the adults wrote it (there are two notes signed "Nan," and one signed "Mickey D.") Ugh.🙄😬
Yeah, ok, but which God? Because if they are writing only for the Cristian one its just wrong.
These are hilarious!
Completely and utterly fake. Clearly written by adults trying to write/sound like children. So contrived and all for worthless praise.
Were these re-written by a teacher? Because that is not what children's' handwriting looks like.
These seem very fabricated. There's just something about the way they are written. It looks and reads like adults trying to be children. I cannot place it exactly, but there's something about this that says children did not write these at all.
Went to Catholic school. If you think this is 'indoctrination"? try a religious-backed private school. This is a demonstration of how kids think. And, btw, I will be asking GOd about the platypus should I get the chance. Poison stinger, looks like a duck and a beaver got mixed up in a Star Trek transporter, and it's a mammal but lays eggs. What the what?!
I’ll bet he sneezed while making that one, too.
I heard a comedian reference the platypus as: the only creature that lays eggs and produces milk, and therefore the only creature who can make it's own custard XD
If you don't believe in god, never let anyone force you to pray, to write to god, to pledge anything, to - in any way - pretend as if you believe. Stand up for your rights - stand up for your freedom to NOT believe (unless you do believe). It's not a privilege, it's a damned right that shouldn't even be questioned anywhere at all.
Thanks for making this point. I registered as a BP user just so I could give it my upvote.
Pretty sure these are old. Kids aren’t taught cursive anymore and all the kids names aren’t modern.
Regardless of when they were written, it's amazing to me how many people couldn't even READ the cursive! Scary.
This comment section is considerably less offensive than I was expecting. Good job everyone. You pass the vibe check.
"Dear Teacher: my mom says all Republicans are Nazis". No dissent. Good job Timmy! A plus!
You get that even Arnold Schwarzenegger is a rep, don't you? At least he is very well known to be anything and everything and all of that even twice, but not a Nazi. And there are a lot of non-Nazi reps ... although the party has taken itself apart and got messed up pretty bad and stuff, this is just too simple.
"Dear Teacher. All people who characterize people into 2 extreme groups are nazis." Example: The nazis characterizing all Germans as good and all Jews as bad. Example 2: Racist white people characterizing all black people as criminals and all white people as incapable of evil. Example 3: "Woke" people characterizing all Cops as evil when there are clearly good cops and bad cops. Example 4: "woke" people characterizing All conservatives as Nazis.
You're right. Not all Republicans are racists. Some of them stick to just hating poor people.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Well racist white people tend to vote republican so...... she's not wrong.
Im not disagreeing that there are racist republicans. Im disagreeing with ALL republicans. There are quite a few of us who disagree with the direction of the party.
Disappointed BP is passing this off as "recently" done.
Yeah so was I, I've seen these around and knew they were from the 60s. And I think bp has posted these before too
This is FAKE!
I knew these were old but I didn't take the time to analyze the social implications so I thought they were funny. My bad. I'll reread and be properly offended this time.
This is fake. I scrolled through quickly and this is not the work of 3rd graders. Far too little spelling and grammar mistakes and the handwriting is off kilter. And if you give an average sized class an existential question like this...I'm sorry these answers are just too "cute". Sounds like the Karenish school of philosophy.
This post seems completely fake to me. First, the names: Norma, Joyce, and Marsha? What is this, from 1940? Also, the penmanship is not aligned with third graders.
This seems like it's form 1940 or something. What kids in 2020 are named Norma, Joyce, and Marsha? I feel like this entire post is fake.
Must everyone take innocence and purity and turn it into a negative? I thought it was neat just to see what an innocent pure of heart child ask such an omnipotent God. Whether you believe or dont believe isnt the point. And this isn't "religious" it's spiritual.
There’s a book about this! I don’t remember what it’s called but it’s filled with all of these!
Isn't that sort of abusing children? Fiddling with their perception of the world like this (god made giraffes? he can see your shoes at church?) is highly disturbing and should be made illegal.
Christians believe that God sees everything and He created everything. If they want to teach children that, it's not abuse, just religious theories. My only problem is when they start drilling racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. into their heads.
Nivits Yibble It's possible that this is a Christian school. In that case the parents are probably fine with schoolteachers teaching their kids those sorts of things, because they believe them also.
Sorry, I meant agree with your 3rd sentence in my post below - not 2nd
Nevits Yibble Good response!
Agree with your 2nd sentence, but the problem with the first is Christians arrogantly assume the rest of us are supposed to care what they believe. Maybe it's important to them personally, but to an outsider like me it’s pile of cultish medieval nonsense. A schoolteacher is in a position of authority. They’re free to believe whatever spook worshiping crazy they want, but they have no right to push that s**t on other people’s children.
a dose of reality love
Once in church I asked as a kid if "God could see my thoughts." The teacher said yes and now I still force down random thoughts to this day!
Wolfowl what
This comment has been deleted.
To which God(dess) to they pray to?
I think it's the Christian God
I don't think kids know the difference.
Welp this totally impacted my atheist view of God
If this is a public school... there's so much wrong with it I don't even know where to start
This is a book from the 90's
1960’s
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Yes, because nothing is quite as wholesome and adorable as indoctrination.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Our world is doomed!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Maybe it would be better to teach kids to behave responsibly, try to figure out these answer by learning instead of teaching them fairy tales