Episode 05: When Children Become Sinners, The Hidden Trauma of Mormon Baptismal Covenants

Baptism might seem like a banal rite of passage for an eight-year-old child, but when you teach children that they are not only capable of sinning, but that their entire eternal salvation is on the line, there are psychological implications. Weighty topics of death and the meaning of life can become front and center for children not yet ready to wrestle with the fear of judgment day and the “consequences” of their yet-to-be fully understood “sins”.

Resources

Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl

Staring at the Sun, Irvine Yalom

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