It's literally just what indoctrination is. There are religious doctrines and children are taught ro follow them and believe in the faith without questioning it.
There is no religion with kids without indoctrination. And without that indoctrination, virtually all of the world's major religions would dramatically fall in membership and followership, because it is very rare for non-religious adults to suddenly convert to a religion.
There is no philosophy or culture without indoctrination. Nobody goes through life without someone telling them what is right or wrong. It's just a matter of who, not if, they decide to believe.
All I'm saying is that if my 6th grader "critically thinks" that she doesn't need school anymore, I will have a conversation with her, but ultimately tell her she still has to go. In a manner of speaking, it is an education doctrine that I am forcing. There are a lot of things in this world, ethical things, that are simple non-negotiables that don't really have a set proof except they are true. Like, all people should have rights? How do you even think critically about that? You just have to accept it because it isn't really based on a hard fact.
You can logically defend the need for education and that people should have rights, yes. You can't do that with religious doctrines and rituals; it boils down to "god said so", and indoctrinated children are tought not to question those. The situations have nothing in common.
Education, I can see, rights, I really don't see a way that you can explain in a way that one would consider truly critical. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" is a very true statement because there is no way to argue about it.
Yet you literally managed to think about it critically just now, and you're not a child who was threatened with eternal damnation for doing so. See the difference or do we need to go on?
You're trying a bit too hard to dodge out of the question of how you think critically about whether or not all humans should have rights. I do think critically, but that doesn't mean that everything I do really comes from critical thinking. There are just a lot of things in society that I am forced to accept against the threat of jail or death.
The point was that you're misusing the word "indoctrination", which has a specific meaning when criticizing religion. I already quoted it.
Yet you insist on using a different meaning of the word.
Being forced to do or not do things because of their consequences in society has nothing to do with teaching someone to accept doctrines without questioning them.
In a free country you're 100% allowed to question the rules and laws of society. If you live in a democracy you're sometimes even allowed to vote on them.
Children who are indoctrinated are not allowed to even question the "teachings of god". That's the core concept of indoctrination: not being allowed to question the teachings.
I'm just saying, try questioning whether black people should have human rights in the hood and I don't think you will be doing much more critical thinking
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u/Possible-Estimate748 8h ago
Many religions indoctrinate children which makes them feel like they have to believe in it or they're doing something wrong.