The current study examined the cultural factors (i.e., religious background, religious participation, parents' views of prayer, and parents' concepts of God) that contribute to children's differentiation between the capabilities of human minds and God's mind. Protestant Christian, Roman Catholic, Muslim, and Religiously Non‐Affiliated parents and their preschool‐aged children were interviewed (N = 272). Children of Muslim parents differentiated the most between God's mind and human minds (i.e., human minds are fallible but God's is not), and children who had greater differentiation between God's and humans' minds had parents who had the least anthropomorphic conceptions of God. Additionally, there was a unique effect of being raised in a Religiously Non‐Affiliated home on the degree of children's differentiation between God's and human minds after religious context factors had been accounted for; in other words, children of Religious Non‐Affiliates differentiated between humans and God the least and their differentiation was unrelated to religious context factors. These findings delineate the ways in which religious context differences influence concepts of God from the earliest formation. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Children's concept of God develops during the preschool years. The degree of anthropomorphism in children's concept of God varies. What does this study add? Muslim children have a strong differentiation between what God's mind and human minds can do. Religiously Non‐Affiliated children have almost no differentiation between God's and human minds. Parent anthropomorphism explains variance in children's God concepts, both within and across religious groups.

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During the preschool years, children understand prayer as a form of communication and are sensitive to the physical behaviours of prayer. Theorists have suggested a connection between the ability to reason about others' mental states and the inflexible nature of religious rituals. Thus, the current study examined this connection in preschool children's understanding of prayer. Child-parent dyads (N = 182) from multiple religious backgrounds were interviewed about their views on how people pray. Children additionally were tested for their understanding of others' knowledge, specifically their understanding that God and humans may have limited knowledge. Analyses indicated that children who believed that prayer could not incorporate unconventional actions had parents who also advocated this view, indicating children's views on prayer reflect the messages they receive about prayer from their parents. Additionally, controlling for age and parents' views on prayer, children's belief that prayer requires specific actions was significantly related to their understanding of the limitations of human knowledge, but not to their understanding of the limitations of God's knowledge. These findings indicate that children view the functions of prayer actions as communicating to other humans, but not necessarily to God, the intentions to be praying.

Previous research has indicated that the physical actions of prayer are especially salient for preschool-aged children, and children in this age range tend to associate prayer with communicating with God. As the context in which children learn about new concepts impacts on how children come to understand those concepts, and children are often introduced to the concept of God through prayer, the current study examined if the views of parents and preschoolers about the function of actions (e.g., bowing head, closing eyes) involved in prayer are related to, and provide the basis for, children's developing conception of God. Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim parent-child dyads were interviewed (N = 246). Results indicated parents and children primarily think the actions of prayer function as helping the individual praying to think about God. However, parents who endorsed the possibility that prayer actions served a ritualistic, communicative function had children with more anthropomorphic views of God. These findings are discussed in terms of the implications for the ways in which prayer serves as a context of religious concept development.