The imagine of God inprimary school children: A comparative analysis of Syrian and Turkish children

Along with the existence of human beings, the phenomenon of belief for the individual has emerged as a concept that maintain sitsexistence. On the basis of the phenomenon of belief, the phenomenon of God and the way God is understood by the individual are decisive. As a social being, human embodies the codes of the cultural structure of which he is a part. Among the secultural codes, there ligion to which the individual belongs is one of the main factors that shape his understand in gandimagination of God. However, it is also possible to see that the conceptions of God differevenifthey believe in the same religion. Religious experiences, individual differences in development, cognitive and psychosocial development process, and parental relations are effective in this. The differentiation of lives brings with it the development of a unique conception of God for the individual. The wars and migrations experienced in recent years affect not only the place where they are, but also the whole world, directly or indirectly. Undoubtedly, Syrian children have been greatly affected in our geography, where war and migration have been in tense in recent years. It is an important issue how the negative conditions and experiences brought about by this situation have an effect on children's conceptions of God. This research is a qualitative study conducted in a phenomenological pattern in order to reveal the differences and similarities of the God conceptions of children who have been victims of wa rand migration and Turkish children who have never experienced the sesituations. A total of 30 children, 15 Turk is hand 15 Syrian, between the ages of 7 and 12, continuing their education in a primary school in the province of Elazig, participated in the research. Data were collected by asking children to write a letter toGod. As a result, it was understood that there was no anthropomorphist understanding of God in both Muslim groups, the children defined God more realistically as they got older, and the positive God-conceptions of Turkish children and the more punishing God-conceptions of Syrian children.