[Semaphore (OP)]

Someone once said something like, 'Give me a man for the first seven years of his life and you can have the rest.' I think it may have been a Jesuit.

I'm thinking about religion, how many people continue in their childhood beliefs, how many throw them off, and how many take up religion following a secular upbringing? I've never been able to find any useful stats online, so would be keen to know what people here think.

Gun ownership in the States is another possible issue. Kids seem to be given guns at an early age and it becomes part of the culture they grow up with. On the other hand rational people also decide that owning a gun may increase their chances of living a little longer.

Too, people are often brutalised during childhood by exposure to war, Somalia for example, and who knows what the effect the Syrian civil war may have.

[mrsmith2211]

I have heard it said one's core belief is developed by age 8. I think you have more questions than 1 answer can deliver. Where are you really going with this question.

[Semaphore (OP)]

I'm wondering why so many people stick to irrational beliefs despite strong evidence to the contrary. Personally, I'm open to evidence and argument and always have been, but a look at the way people deny facts and persist in their belief system led me to wonder how much of that behaviour is due to influences inflicted in childhood.