Do children have special theological insights?

Matthew 11:25 (NRSVUE) says: 

At that time Jesus said, “I thank[h] you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;

Problem 1: Many translations of this verse use the term 'children' instead of infants. But νηπίοις is arguably better translated as 'infants' or 'babies', which is presumably why we find that translation here in NRSVUE. But why would other translations use 'children'? Maybe because while it's hard enough to believe that children have special theological insights, it's even harder to believe that infants have special theological insights.

 

But maybe 'infant' is a metaphor for a new believer? New believers have insights from the Holy Spirit. 

 

Problem 2: Revealed what to infants? What does 'these things' refer to? The text doesn't say, and none of the surrounding verses are helpful.

 

Problem 3:  

 

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NRSVUE):

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

Children are poor at truthseeking because, as Paul says, thinking and reasoning like a child is something to be cast off.

Jesus does not merely say that we ought to be child-like for the sake of innocence, humility, and dependence – or, what I get from Paul's  verse, accepting the Kingdom of God with the kind of giddy joy that children have – but that things have been revealed to children. But as far as I'm aware, this just isn't true. There's no reason to believe that children have special insights or an enhanced sensus divinitatis.

Problem 4: 

 

Christians will happily say that their views on God changed dramatically from when they were children. Philosopher Josh Rasmussen, for example, says in the beginning of his book How Reason Can Lead to God that he is grateful that his childhood views of God were destroyed, because they were too simple. Many Christians report maturing in their spiritual understanding over time, and don't report having any special insights as a child, only dreadful ignorance.

 

Problem 5: 

Maybe if there were many reports of angels visiting children, but not adults, and having conversations with them, then there would be evidence of this claim. Or if there were reports of children who knew things they shouldn't be able to know, and when asked how they knew these things they would said "God told me", then that could be evidence. But there are no reports of these kinds.

 

Problem 6:

You could try to give the following kind of argument: Because of the noetic effects of sin, and because children haven't had the time to sin all that much, children are more likely to have a stronger sensus divinitatis and thus believe in God.

I don't know of the empirical research on children's belief in God. For all I know, there are more children than not that don't believe in God, or maybe it's 50/50. That would discredit the idea that children are specially positioned to "know" that God exists.

Even if research showed that children do disproportionately believe in God, there could be naturalistic explanations for this. Children raised by parents who believe in God will disproportionately believe in God not because of an enhanced sensus divinitatis, but because humans are wired to believe testimony, especially testimony in trusted individuals such as your parents.

There is much disbelief in the Christian God in China, Japan, India, southeast Asia, northeastern Europe, and the Middle East. If children in those countries had a tendency to believe in the Christian God despite their social environment, then that would be powerful evidence that yes, God reveals Himself to children. But as far as I know, children in these countries tend to believe what their parents believe, exactly as naturalism predicts.

 

Problem 7:

Another confounding variable could be that children struggle to delineate imaginary figures with real life. So even if humans tend to lose belief in God as they age, this might not be due to the noetic effects of sin but rather to the adult ability to sort imagination from reality, and, more generally, due to the adult ability to examine one's beliefs and scrutinize them.