Indoctrinated

I'm sure you've heard it. "We don't teach our kids any religion because we want them to come to it on their own. It's not right if we force our beliefs on them." And you might think, "Well, I can see that. Makes some sense." Fight that temptation. There are too many problems with that to actually enumerate and examine.

People think that indoctrination is bad. The truth is it can be ... if the thing that is being indocrinated is bad. But we know that indoctrination on its own isn't bad. How can I be so sure? Because we mandate that parents send their kids to school. And what is school but indoctrination? We teach them that reading and writing and arithmetic are good (at least theoretically). They learn history and geography and all sorts of things. None of it is without slant, but we expect that the slant is going to be minimal and truthful. So we don't protest. But make no mistake; we are indoctrinating those kids. I remember when my junior-high-aged son came home from school excited. "Dad!" he said, "I finally learned the difference between a liberal and a conservative. A liberal wants to share with everyone and a conservative wants to keep everything for himself." Indoctrinated. (Rest assured he didn't maintain that view by the time our conversation ended. And, yes, again, indoctrinated.)

Beyond our generally accepted, societally affirmed use of indoctrination, it is impossible to avoid by any means. Our constant aim is to have others align with our doctrines, be they political, economic, social, religious ... whatever. We each have views and we aim to try to win others to our own views. That's indoctrination.

Beyond that, the premise, "We don't teach our kids any religion because we want them to come to it on their own. It's not right if we force our beliefs on them," is a doctrine. Further, by not teaching kids any religion you are passing on a doctrine that "Religion is not significant or true." That is, parents don't say, "We don't keep our kids from drinking household cleaners because we want them to come to it on their own." That's called reckless endangerment. But they do it with religion? Because they believe that religion is not significant or true ... and pass that doctrine on to their kids by withholding any teaching. But if it is true, for instance, that all have sinned (Rom 3:23), the wages of that sin is death (Rom 6:23), and Jesus is the only solution (John 14:6), then religion is just as true and significant as teaching your kids not to put their hands on a hot stove. More so. One will get them burned and the other will get them eternally dead.

You may think that it's bad to indoctrinate children. It's not. We all do it. We do it in word and in deed, intentionally or unintentionally, by example and even by silence. We assign the task to others -- teachers, law enforcement, pastors, family members, etc. It cannot be avoided. So the concept "We want them to come to it on their own" is a dodge to avoid not indoctrination, but the right indoctrination. It isn't trivial and it isn't rational. "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." (Eph 6:4) Indoctrinate them.