Indoctrinating children

[Flail]

In my opinion it is both irresponsible and a dangerous precedent for adults to indoctrinate children into beliefs that are based upon unprovable claims without evidence.

Is it irresponsible to indoctrinate children who do not have the developed mental capacity to determine when they are being duped?

[100%atheist]

I'm an atheist. I have 3 kids. I have never taught any of them that there is no God, and I don't know any atheists that do.

I actually do. Since the number of observed gods is solidly equal to a zero, it is safe to say that there are no gods (at least so far). When a child asks me if there is a god, I answer "no, of course not". A side note: I would never talk about gods with my child until she would turn 12-14 or so, but indoctrinated christian children at school have raised such questions well before a child can comprehend philosophical concepts. At age < 10, children can normally digest simple answers only, anything else will confuse them. That's why it is so easy to indoctrinate them. If someone wants to tell me that I indoctrinate my children with atheist, so be it. Also, I indoctrinate them in cleaning their teeth before sleep. Religious indoctrination is a different animal from areligious indoctrination in my opinion.

[bjs]

I'm an atheist. I have 3 kids. I have never taught any of them that there is no God, and I don't know any atheists that do. I don't teach them that there is a God. I teach them to think about things. When asked, I tell them what I think. I also tell them it's up to them to figure out what they think. Do you know any religionists who raise their children like this? btw so far they're all agnostic. The only one who's grown is a strong agnostic, that is, she believes that it is not possible to know whether there is a God.

I have never understood where some people get the idea that children learn from what their parents say. Children learn from what their parents do, not what they say.

If you (general, not specifically Autodidact) live life as a Christian then you have indoctrinated your children into Christianity. If you live life as an atheist then you have indoctrinated you children into atheism.

For instance, no matter what a parent says about prayer, if children see their parents pray on a regular basis then they have been indoctrinated into the idea that prayer is a normal and important part of life, and the children will likely follow that example.

On the other hand, if a parent tells their children to think about things and that it is up to them to figure out what they think, but the children never see their parents pray then those children have been fully indoctrinated into the belief that prayer is unimportant, unnecessary and should not be practiced. The children will likely follow that example.

Words have some importance, but when it comes to parenting (or indoctrinating as some like to call it), actions are what really matter.

[100%atheist]

I'm an atheist. I have 3 kids. I have never taught any of them that there is no God, and I don't know any atheists that do. I don't teach them that there is a God. I teach them to think about things. When asked, I tell them what I think. I also tell them it's up to them to figure out what they think. Do you know any religionists who raise their children like this? btw so far they're all agnostic. The only one who's grown is a strong agnostic, that is, she believes that it is not possible to know whether there is a God.

I have never understood where some people get the idea that children learn from what their parents say. Children learn from what their parents do, not what they say.

If you (general, not specifically Autodidact) live life as a Christian then you have indoctrinated your children into Christianity. If you live life as an atheist then you have indoctrinated you children into atheism.

For instance, no matter what a parent says about prayer, if children see their parents pray on a regular basis then they have been indoctrinated into the idea that prayer is a normal and important part of life, and the children will likely follow that example.

On the other hand, if a parent tells their children to think about things and that it is up to them to figure out what they think, but the children never see their parents pray then those children have been fully indoctrinated into the belief that prayer is unimportant, unnecessary and should not be practiced. The children will likely follow that example.

Words have some importance, but when it comes to parenting (or indoctrinating as some like to call it), actions are what really matter.

This is a good point. At least, this confirms the opinion that usually we do not choose religion, but parents do it for children by exposing them to rituals of a particular religion. Also, this suggests that if we don't expose children to religious rituals, they will likely grow up as atheists. I agree.

[LoveALL]

I think it's impossible to escape, As for me personally I grew up with my mom and grandma teaching me the bible from a very early age but they never said "you'll go to hell if you don't believe" it was more about the text being the guide of my behavior toward other people. Don't lie, respect your elders, be nice, share, and my school education (public school) didn't ever touch on the origin of life until Modern Bio in high school the only thing that ever came up before that was that the Earth wasn't 6,000 years old which I had never been taught to believe in the first place

[Flail]

I think it's impossible to escape, As for me personally I grew up with my mom and grandma teaching me the bible from a very early age but they never said "you'll go to hell if you don't believe" it was more about the text being the guide of my behavior toward other people. Don't lie, respect your elders, be nice, share, and my school education (public school) didn't ever touch on the origin of life until Modern Bio in high school the only thing that ever came up before that was that the Earth wasn't 6,000 years old which I had never been taught to believe in the first place

This was similar to my early childhood experience with all things biblical and churchy. However, it was implicit that the supernatural Bible tales of Jesus were literally and factually the case and that our rituals and worship were to an actual factual God. So I held Jesus in the same light as Santa; Jesus loves me and will bless me and Santa loves me and will bless me. Eventually I was made to understand that Santa was all fiction, but no one ever explained that BibleGod was as well.

[LoveALL]

Santa was real (St Nikolas) but he wasn't immortal and now parents carry on where he left off, as for God he's not fiction (my personal beliefs) and I'd never tell my younger cousins or future children that he was

[LoveALL]

I'm an atheist. I have 3 kids. I have never taught any of them that there is no God, and I don't know any atheists that do.

I actually do. Since the number of observed gods is solidly equal to a zero, it is safe to say that there are no gods (at least so far). When a child asks me if there is a god, I answer "no, of course not". A side note: I would never talk about gods with my child until she would turn 12-14 or so, but indoctrinated christian children at school have raised such questions well before a child can comprehend philosophical concepts. At age < 10, children can normally digest simple answers only, anything else will confuse them. That's why it is so easy to indoctrinate them. If someone wants to tell me that I indoctrinate my children with atheist, so be it. Also, I indoctrinate them in cleaning their teeth before sleep. Religious indoctrination is a different animal from areligious indoctrination in my opinion.

and I think that you're way is every bit as bad as the fundamentalists who won't let their kids learn evolution with an open mind

[Flail]

Santa was real (St Nikolas) but he wasn't immortal and now parents carry on where he left off, as for God he's not fiction (my personal beliefs) and I'd never tell my younger cousins or future children that he was

Indeed, it was evidence that killed Santa once we got mature enough to think for ourselves and examine what had been fed to us. But since 'God' has no evidence, everything remains 'up in the air' as to such an 'Entity'. As for BibleGod on the other hand, BibleGod can be shown by a preponderance of circumstantial evidence to be more probably fiction than actual.

As an Ignostic I agree with you as to indoctrinating children religiously, and I have never told any of my children that 'God' was fiction. There could be a 'God' for all I know. But as to BibleGod one would have to be very credulous and emotionally charged with a desire for belief before reaching one that conjured Him based upon the hearsay in the Bible. If you teach your children to think critically and to examine with skepticism all things propounded without evidence, and to avoid following herd mentality, they will almost invariably come to the unemotional conclusion themselves that BibleGod is nothing more than myth and metaphor enveloping some basic existential philosophy. It's the dogma, ritual practices and pomp that both substitute for BibleGod evidence and cause the selfish, emotional neediness required for BibleGod beliefs.

[Vampiel]

I'm an atheist. I have 3 kids. I have never taught any of them that there is no God, and I don't know any atheists that do. I don't teach them that there is a God. I teach them to think about things. When asked, I tell them what I think. I also tell them it's up to them to figure out what they think. Do you know any religionists who raise their children like this? btw so far they're all agnostic. The only one who's grown is a strong agnostic, that is, she believes that it is not possible to know whether there is a God.

I have never understood where some people get the idea that children learn from what their parents say. Children learn from what their parents do, not what they say.

If you (general, not specifically Autodidact) live life as a Christian then you have indoctrinated your children into Christianity. If you live life as an atheist then you have indoctrinated you children into atheism.

For instance, no matter what a parent says about prayer, if children see their parents pray on a regular basis then they have been indoctrinated into the idea that prayer is a normal and important part of life, and the children will likely follow that example.

On the other hand, if a parent tells their children to think about things and that it is up to them to figure out what they think, but the children never see their parents pray then those children have been fully indoctrinated into the belief that prayer is unimportant, unnecessary and should not be practiced. The children will likely follow that example.

Words have some importance, but when it comes to parenting (or indoctrinating as some like to call it), actions are what really matter.

This is true but only to an extent. If you don't explicitly teach them that religion is a personal decision and they should research other points of view despite what your own is, and even educate them on other points of view, that's not indoctrination but education there is a difference. When they are old enough to really begin to reason out what makes the most sense to them they may make a different decision depending on if they where educated or indoctrinated. Fear can play a big role for children and if they are told they are going to hell their whole life if they don't believe, they may just stick with them the rest of there life.

Why do you think Christianity and Islam are the worlds largest religions? It's not a coincidence they both use fear as a tool to trap peoples minds and it works.

[Flail]

In my opinion it is both irresponsible and a dangerous precedent for adults to indoctrinate children into beliefs that are based upon unprovable claims without evidence.

Is it irresponsible to indoctrinate children who do not have the developed mental capacity to determine when they are being duped?

Oh you mean like the belief that "There is no god?" (You can't prove it, there is no physical evidence that has the ability to prove that idea, it is an opinion - a belief, rationalized like any other)

You teach your kids what you believe and I'll teach mine what I believe. Live and let live.

PS: I don't have kids yet! praise the Lord!

I'm an atheist. I have 3 kids. I have never taught any of them that there is no God, and I don't know any atheists that do. I don't teach them that there is a God. I teach them to think about things. When asked, I tell them what I think. I also tell them it's up to them to figure out what they think. Do you know any religionists who raise their children like this? btw so far they're all agnostic. The only one who's grown is a strong agnostic, that is, she believes that it is not possible to know whether there is a God.

I am a skeptic and ignostic and a secular humanist (not agnostic). I have two kids and I never taught them or indoctrinated them as to whether there is or is not a God or even what I thought a God would consist of. I took them to various churches when they were young and had them read widely as they got older. I taught them to be skeptics and critical thinkers. Today one is a doctor and agnostic, the other a lawyer and ignostic. Your daughter might check out ignosticism.