Religious indoctrination of children by John Duff

A short paper arguing against the religious indoctrination of children:

John Duff argues against religious indoctrination of children. On the last page he suggests that USA public schools should teach RE, comparing the roots of various religions and examing them so 'the negative aspects of religious ideology would slowly dissipate'.

Like we try to do in Dorset.

I quote from selected passages

"In America, where nearly nine in ten people identify with some sort of religion and 78% of the population adhere to some form of Christianity (Newport), there is an exploitation of children that is ignored by the majority: religious indoctrination. The indoctrination of any religious dogma is immoral and abusive.

Such dogma, original or not, is unproven by empirical evidence and to adhere to it "is a matter of faith rather than knowledge" (Hand Philos. 93-94). To educate a child in any field, one must either compliment their reason with empirical evidence or indoctrinate them. Religious ideology cannot be confirmed with "rationally decisive evidence" so a child's reason must be dodged in order to "psychologically" force these beliefs upon them (Hand Relig. 550). Therefore knowing that "all religious propositions are doubtful in this sense is sufficient to indicate that teaching for belief in them is always indoctrination" (Snook 74).
Religious indoctrination is a major contributor to the rampant problem of prejudice in the world; a well known example is homophobia and misogyny (Balkin, Schiosser, and Levitt 421)

Children should not be exposed to this cycle of ignorance. 

Down through history, the Church has practiced religious intolerance and can be found in the writings of early church fathers and leaders. The Roman Emperor Constantine I, who declared Christianity the official religion of Rome in 321 CE, supported the anti-Semitic stance of the church by stating "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way" (Pamphilus III, XVIII). This type of hatred has prevailed, and children do not deserve to be misinformed with this type of favoritism. Along with prejudice, indoctrination will have an effect on the cognitive and behavioral development of a child by teaching for belief in irrational doctrines and ideologies. In Christianity, according to Hanna and Meyer, children are taught to pray to an omniscient, moody, god who is also all powerful and ubiquitous. Children are taught to pray to this powerful god in hopes of obtaining answers when nobody else can be relied on or trusted. Beliefs of this nature will promote anxiety as children are taught that in order to escape punishment; one must obey god's laws. The cognitive problems arise with the belief in a contradictory, authoritative, supernatural force that can be good, bad, abusive or kind depending on the compliance of extremely ambiguous tenets. 

By taking a child's objectiveness and building a partition of ideology down their field of reason is fiercely abusive and, by doing so, the child's ability to rationalize as a free thinker has been suppressed (Wilson, Williams, and Sugarman 174-175). 

Pseudoscience also plays a major factor in the indoctrination of Christian dogma. For example, ancient mythological stories like a worldwide flood or a 6,000 year old Earth are taken literally by many Christians today. In a study taken from a Gallup poll, conducted in 2005 by Darren Carlson, 76% of Americans said "they would not be upset if creationism was taught in school". The belief that the Earth was created by a supernatural being, in its present state, is known as creationism or intelligent design. This widespread belief is also taught to children as an alternative to the empirical and verifiable scientific theories which play a major role in our everyday lives (Northwest). Furthermore, children who are indoctrinated with pseudoscience will also be put at a health risk by being taught that prayer or unlicensed medical attention is a means of curing diseases. In certain sects, people are encouraged "to seek outside assistance" by "asking for prayers and other rituals from clergy, relatives, and other church members". 

This epidemic of unawareness is a result of religious indoctrination and the vicious cycle needs to end. Encouraging pseudoscience, like creation mythology or superstitious practices, as reliable, is indoctrination and society can absolutely survive without it. Research has shown that the immorality of exposing a child to religious training incorporates prejudice, ethnocentrism, cognitive regulation, deceitfulness, and pseudo-science. But on the other side of the coin, religious training can provide a sense of community in which the child will make friends, have mentors, and carry on the family tradition (First Comm.).
Religion is a worldwide phenomenon that cannot be ignored, and sadly children will continually be forced to inherit the ignorance of their parents. Because of this fact, religion must be carefully examined and exposed to children but in a systematic setting. If the public school system offered a religious education class as an elective, the negative aspects of religious ideology would slowly dissipate. This type of equitable class could expose students to every extant religion of the world and the beliefs involved with each. Children could also be taught the historic roots of each religion and the comparative features of all which would include mythology as an understanding of how stories were relayed in ancient times and the role mythology plays in religion. A religious education class, as described above, would eventually strengthen our country, and world, by putting an end to the enmity that is all too common today. The United States of America needs to ditch the Bronze Age mind set, and make this 21st century transition one for the history books. "