Adults put their hand on a book of fables & swear to an imaginary non-being that they will tell the truth. Supposedly serious minded & intelligent judges & barristers support this, and rely on the average JoeBlow Juror to be able to realise (despite their own beliefs) no one is telling the truth, if it's against their own best interest.
How are children supposed to realise fact from fiction, truth from lie, in this environment??

As a child, I was sure that adults didn't really believe the religious fables, that I was told or read. The horror for me was that adults lied about it, and used it for manipulation, with false promises & threats.

Relative to non-religious things ... that all adults lied, a lot, destroyed my trust & ruined the world for me.

The numbers keep dropping.

[msnbc.com]

This is most likely true. Unfortunately, reality ain’t what it used to be.

I can only imagine the intense religious indoctrination the United states & many similar Christian dominant counties have embraced till now. Living among many mainstream , seemingly well off devout pious , believers & remaining civil.is strong . impressive.. Interacting while maintaining that aire of respect
Personally I treat.one like a UFO finatic. A ghost hunting psychic. You do you.. knod politely
Avoid the topic at all costs. Without deriding upsetting a possible customer or client . The doctor or teacher. ( Teachers will denounce religion soon, surely. ) Not a good look id of thought. Not the biggest fan of teachers.. My problem.
So bibles in the fiction section. Keeping a historical story book full of subjective but imaginative tales. Is important.
Tho least we forget. A book that killed an unfathomable amount of people.in it's name. Needs it's place in literatures infamy. Less of the splendor.

I still remember realizing that a large number of the adults around me believed that stories from the bible actually happened.

And I would not have been more dumbfounded if they had said Paul Bunyan existed.

It really shook me about their ability to be credible about anything.

If you don't teach them critical thinking skills, it follows. And how can cults teach critical thinking skills ?

Brainwashing.

Surprise! Religious adults are less likely to distinguish fantasy from reality. Why so? Their religion is a fantasy.

Don't discriminate.

Same thing about children raised on Disney and other fairy tales. They develop a permanent Cinderella Syndrome. They keep hoping in their 40s, 50s and 60s that someone will come and rescue them. Religious and Atheists included.

No kidding

Religious adults think all the world was covered in a flood 4,000 years ago and wiped out all humanity when cultures existing longer than that say "Hi!"

That finding does not surprise me in the slightest.

Older study, but interesting nonetheless.