That could only happen in a culture or a place where such activities evoked the praise of men.
**Exactly! And to expand on what Itwin said below: though, yes, you’re right that our larger cukture doesn’t value religious actions, there are subcultures within our larger culture where appearing religious will get a child (for my particular example) the praise and attention that children need. And so a clever child learns that acting religious is a good way to get more praise from the important people in his/her life. It doesn’t just happen in Christian families; it can be any religion. I’ve even seen it happen in New Age-y families. And it varies, again, in degree.
It need not be a sign of dysfunction in a family or religious subculture (though it can be). To illustrate with another, non-religious, example, I’ll use myself. My own family was fairly healthy. But, I had the sort of gifts that get a child extra attention—academic success and artistic talent. These things were highly valued in my family. My parents showed my sister, brother, and myself plenty of unconditional love. Nevertheless, sometimes** I felt that what made me really worthwhile and worthy of attention just might be my giftedness. It wasn’t my parents’ fault–I made the incorrect connection on my own. So, as part of growing up, I had to learn that my value and identity never rested in my artistic talent. The “talented artist” was a mask for me at times. Sometimes (often, in fact) I did artwork for good reasons, but at other times, having done the work for its own sake, I later let it become a way to get praise from people.
While it may seem to you a tenuous connection to make between artistic/academic giftedness and religious precociousness leading someone to hide behind a certain identity, I think the same dynamic underlies both.
ltwin;10340622:
We also live in a culture that is a collection of subcultures. And while the dominant culture of America and the West at large is secular and hostile to religious belief, there is (or are) a Christian subculture(s) in which it is beneficial to put on an outward show of religiosity, which is what I did because the circumstances that I was born into meant that I moved in almost exclusively Christian circles for most of my life before high school graduation. .
