Recently a senior researcher at Britain's University of Oxford Centre for Anthropology and Mind made some startling statements regarding children. In an interview on BBC Radio4, Dr. Justin Barrett said: "The preponderance of scientific evidence for the past 10 years or so has shown that a lot more seems to be built into the natural development of children's minds than we once thought, including a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose" (quoted in The Daily Telegraph, Nov. 25, emphasis added throughout).

He further observed that "children's normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine creation and intelligent design. In contrast evolution is unnatural for human minds; relatively difficult to believe" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk,"Children are born believers in God, academic claims", Nov. 24, 2008).

In reporting on this rather astonishing development in the scientific world of Oxford University, Martin Beckford (religious affairs correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, Nov. 25) wrote that "Children are 'born believers' in God and do not simply acquire religious ideas through indoctrination, according to an academic [referring to Justin Barrett]" Dr. Barrett also said that "If we threw a handful [of children] on an island and they raised themselves, I think they would believe in God" (ibid.).

Martin Beckford also noted that "In a lecture to be given [the following day] at the University of Cambridge's Faraday Institute … Dr. Barrett will cite psychological experiments carried out on children that he says show they instinctively believe that almost everything has been designed with a specific purpose.

"In one study, six and seven-year-olds who were asked why the first bird existed replied 'to make nice music' and 'because it makes the world look nice.' … Dr Barrett claimed anthropologists have found that in some cultures children believe in God even when religious teachings are withheld from them. 'Children's normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine creation and intelligent design. In contrast, evolution is unnatural for human minds; relatively difficult to believe'" (ibid).

Undoubtedly Dr. Barrett's observations will not be well-received by fellow academics and scientists steeped in the evolutionary viewpoint. After all, how could Darwinian evolution account for human beings having an inborn propensity to believe in a divine Creator?

Nonetheless, his findings raise the important issue of adult responsibility in teaching young people truth. The God who created human beings in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27) will hold both parents and teachers responsible for what they teach children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Proverbs 22:6).

Should it be divine creation or evolution? Many may not understand that Darwinian evolution is still unproven theory—and really not established fact. (For a comprehensive study of this important question, request or download our free booklet Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe?) 

The Bible uses very young children as symbolic of those who readily accept the creation account and who anticipate the Kingdom of God during this age of man. King David once wrote: "O LORD, our Lord…who have set your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength…When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers" (Psalm 8:1-3). About a millennium later Jesus Christ exclaimed: "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:16).

In his report on Dr. Barrett's findings, Daily Telegraph correspondent Martin Beckford wrote about children assuming "that everything in the world was created with a purpose." This assumption is true!