I Wish Christians Would Just Openly Admit They're Indoctrinating Their Children!

I've written about indoctrination before. I'm considering a book on it.

I wish Christians would just openly admit they're indoctrinating their children, most all of them (comparatively speaking). Because that's what they're doing by taking their kids to church on Sundays and/or to Sunday School, Catechism classes, AWANA programs, Child Evangelism activities, Vacation Bible Schools, Christian summer camps, then sending them off to Bible Colleges and Seminaries. I know, having participated in these child/youth/young adult indoctrinating activities, the goals of which were to convert, indoctrinate and train a child to behave in the ways of their parents.

This is teaching them WHAT to think not HOW to think!

Admit it! Then when nonbelievers point this out believers wouldn't get offended. Wear it like a badge! "We Indoctrinate & We're Proud of it."

No! Teaching kids HOW to think is not the same thing, nor is teaching them math, logic, geography, physics, astronomy, or philosophy, etc. Nor is it indoctrination to teach them HOW to spot a con-artist, a religious huckster, or how to look for objective evidence when confronted with a claim, any claim, even a claim from their parents.

No one disputes there are a massive amount of facts we should teach our children. But we should also teach them how to verify these facts (or disconfirm them) for themselves, should they want to. One simple way to discomfirm a fact is to point out how few people agree when confronted with the alleged evidence for said fact. To the degree the objective evidence convinces everyone is to the same degree it's probably a fact (this will be more and more true as science advances and we leave superstition, gullibility and the lack of thinking skills behind us).

If you really want your kids to learn HOW to think about religion, teach them there are people who disagree (a fact), why they disagree (another fact), factual information from the "horse's mouth" about the other religions that exist, and how many adherents each has. All facts. Then you should also expose them to their worship, meditation, healing, and prayer services throughout their lives.

That would be one small step for parenting, one giant leap for children.