Benefits of a religious upbringing

Sir, – Prof William Reville (“Is religion good for children?”, November 1st) argues that “the overall effects of a religious upbringing are distinctly positive”, citing a recent American study which shows a correlation between religious upbringing and a range of positive outcomes for children.

On the surface, this might look like good news for defenders of religious upbringings, until one notices that the study in question does not actually distinguish between different religions. Apparently, what matters is that a child has any religious upbringing at all, rather than some particular religious upbringing.

This would seem to lead to a rather embarrassing conclusion for defenders of religious upbringings: whatever the benefits of a religious upbringing are, they have little if anything to do with whether a child’s religious beliefs are actually true. – Yours, etc,

Dr BRIAN CAREY,

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Department of Philosophy,

Trinity College Dublin.