Indoctrination vs Free Will

I was recently talking to a friend of mine. She is Christian and wants to raise her children to be Christian also. She sees it as her duty. She is “accountable to god” for her children, as she said. I have a few things to say about this. First, as an atheist, I don’t force other people to see the world the way I do. I encourage them to, but if someone insists on believing in a god, so be it.

All I ask is that people give all options a chance. Maybe Islam is the true religion. Maybe Hinduism  Maybe Christianity. Maybe Catholicism. Maybe they are all lies. There are a lot of choices. I became an atheist after years of thinking and researching the subject. That’s all I ask. If a Christian reads what I have read, or does whatever research they can, and they still decide that Christianity is the true religion, that is their choice.

When people refuse to even entertain the idea that they might be wrong, it shows a lack of faith on their part. If they really believed in their views, then no amount of alternatives would sway them. They could read something like The God Delusion, disagree, and go on their way. To not even consider it, is doing themselves a disservice and only proves my view that religion poisons the mind.

This brings me to my next point. No parent (regardless of views) has the right or “obligation” to force their views on their children. Even atheists. By all means, expose your children to your views. But expose them to other views and let them make their own decisions. That’s the whole point of the free will your god gave you. The fact of the matter is that most children have the same religious views as their parents. So even if you do expose them to other religions or atheism, there’s still a large chance they will chose your faith anyway. Why not give the child the information to make their own choice?

Here’s why. Critical thinking. If you tell your child “this religion is the true religion and you will go to hell if you disagree”, they don’t question it. If you tell your child “I BELIEVE this religion is the true religion”, they will consider it, and maybe agree. But they’ll think about it. This will teach them not WHAT to think, but HOW to think. If your religion really is the true religion, don’t you think that exposing them to other religions would just reinforce that? Your child would look at the other religions and see flaws in them (because all religion is flawed) and go back to your religion. The difference is you give them the power to make up their own minds.

So many people don’t understand their own religion, let alone others. Maybe they feel like they can’t answer the questions their children ask. To avoid this embarrassment  they just decide to force their views on their children rather than do the work. It’s easier to indoctrinate someone to share your views when they are young. It’s easier to put the fear of hell into a child (who can’t tell the difference between Jesus and Santa) to get them to agree with you than to put the fear of hell into a teenager (who knows Santa was just a story).

It’s parental manipulation. Flat out. Plus, most of the atheists I’ve talked to have mentioned that the reason they became atheists was because they read the bible. They saw how it constantly contradicts itself and certain stories, like the arc, are simply illogical. But if you add to that the fear of eternal damnation by a so called loving god, then the child will accept the faith, just so they don’t go to hell.

But is that really belief? Or is that fear? You should believe your faith because you think it’s true. Not because you are worried what would happen if you’re wrong. That’s all irrelevant to the matter though. Choice. That’s my main argument. Give your children the choice. Take them to church. Take them to different churches. Take them to a mosque. Take them to the library. Take them to a temple. Show them as many different religions as you can. Show them different view points. Let them decide for themselves. If you don’t, you’re treating them like a part of you, and not separate people. Would you like it if your parents thought of you as “parent jr.” instead of “your own self”?

Finally, if your god will punish you for the way your children turn out, your god is a horrible entity and doesn’t deserve the love you give it. Your god is the one that created them and yourself. Your god is the one that gave them free will. Your god gave them the skills to think for themselves. Wouldn’t he punish THEM for not believing, and not YOU? YOU believed. There is a reason why the first sin was eating from the tree of knowledge. Knowledge leads to thinking. Thinking leads away from god. So if you insist on indoctrinating your children, just know, you are robing them of the thinking skills that they will need throughout their lives. If that happens, I won’t blame your god. I’ll blame you.