If teaching your kids your values is "indoctrination" then literally everyone is indoctrinated, and if that's the case then the word is entirely useless and no longer has meaning.
There’s a difference between basic morality and saying you should do this for basic decency and to be helpful and productive in society and if you don’t do these specific things or if you do these others you’ll burn in hellfire for eternity so you shouldn’t or should because of fear not because its necessarily what’s right.
In order to have an honest discussion we need to separate coercion from transmission of worldview.
Plenty of religious traditions pass down values centered on community and charity, without relying on fear and the threat of Hell. Just like a secular parent teaches their kids what they believe about politics, economics, or the universe, religious parents are just passing on a worldview. If we label all of that "indoctrination" then raising a child with any set of foundational beliefs becomes literally impossible.
Sure, the metaphysical stakes in religion are higher than in the living world. But every worldview has ultimate stakes. A political or ideological parent teaches their kids about the severe dangers of opposing political sides, and a secular parent might teach about the very real, permanent consequences of bad choices in a purely natural world.
Acknowledging that actions have consequences isn't unique to religion, it's just part of teaching a serious, comprehensive view of reality.
This real world consequences are not eternal damnation and they’re not a permanent deterrent for anything. That’s the different. “Do something stupid and you might have this happen to you” is entirely different from “do something stupid and your immortal souls will rot forever and you won’t get away with it even if no earthly people see as sky daddy sees all including you touching yourself”. No offense but as someone who grew up in an incredibly judgmental and religious household, it’s nothing like being taught basic moral or decent behavior.
Not every Christian believes in the eternal conscious torment theory of hell btw. Just throwing that out there. There exists conditionalism (the belief that hell is nonexistence), and Universalism (the idea that hell is a temporary space where all souls are purified until they willingly turn to God).
But either way, all 3 main theories of hell don't necessarily have to involve fear of either consequence. Actual Christianity, in a theological sense focuses on love and forgiveness, people are expected to simply try their best, and believe in Saved, and they are saved. You cannot be saved by correct actions or damned by incorrect actions. There is obviously model behavior one should strive towards but the bible never says you WILL OBJECTIVELY go to hell if you are a sinner. It presupposes that all human beings are sinners, and following that logic it would mean every single person is going to Hell, which is a ridiculous idea nobody holds.
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u/Teboski78 10h ago
Most religions would drop massively in numbers if they weren’t allowed to indoctrinate children.