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Question 44

Do you, as an atheist, consider religious indoctrination to be child abuse?

• ANYthing which threatens a child with harm if not "religiously" adhered to; ANYthing which deliberately and systematically destroys self-esteem; ANYthing which demands obedience without question, no matter the danger or perceived insensibility; ANYthing that calls for repetition and repetition and repetition until the brainwashing is complete...

  ...would be, and likely IS outlawed. EXCEPT for religion. Yes, most religion is child abuse. (Magyckme #554)

• Most definetely. it is abuse of the worst kind -- it is brainwashing. I would rather leave the country than have my child subjected to religious indoctrination of any kind. (MindFlayer #696 )

• Sometimes. If the parents teach that all other eligions are evil, and that the kid is evil or bad because of sin and whatnot, and that it is always wrong to question his/her beliefs, then yeah. (loupgarou #1637

• (slowly)

  Noooooo... unless it's religious indoctrination which puts the child at risk (or leads to risky behavior as an adult). If it requires beatings, humiliation, unnecessary illness from lack of medical attention or nutrition, segregation from non-believers and their ideas, etc. it most surely is.

  Believing something that's not true is not, in and of itself, child abuse. (Darklady #184)

• Yes, I do. In fact, I have described how I was treated as a child as religious abuse many times. The household that I came from was so religious that my first word, _really_, was "Jesus." I was never given any choice whether to believe or not, and doubts were instantly quelled. I was told not to think about anything other than what God wants.

  The problem was, I have a very high I.Q., and not thinking does not come easily to me. I had to go to college to be far enough away from my parents to start thinking properly, but I (obviously) eventually reached the nirvana of atheism. (Atheist Man #1190)

• I think religion should be issued a restraining order to stay 50-feet from minors. I mean, it's railroading kids into the religion of their parents, before the kid even knows what a religion is. Fisher-Price or Play-skool should make "Comparative Religions and Philosophies" kits for toddlers, at least give them a fighting chance to make up their own minds, instead of getting their skull filled with their parent's regurgitation. (High-fidelity -Derek Jensen-)

• No, the term is too loaded. Child Abuse is a legal term and we don't need to piggy back on that. When we do that kind of thing we cheapen the terminology.

  That said, religious indoctrination is nasty. Anyone reading this is, sadly, in a place where wackos are allowed to teach their kids just about anything they want regarding invisible space pixies, and it makes it that much harder for the person so raised to discard the crap and get a handle on the real world.

  There are some occasions when we can interject some rationality in individual children's experiences, and its up to us to do so. As long as we live in a world where the dim and ignorant rule, we have to take our opportunities to show alternatives to the foolishness. It does work, at least somewhat. Many children reach a point where they start to question. Being there and ready to help them explore is one of the best ways I've seen to "convert" the occasional potential intelligent Xian. (Dewey Henize #122)

• I would not want to consider such for the simple reason that any idea or philosophy a parent tries to instill in a child could be considered a form of indoctrination.

  Like it or not, parents have a great deal of latitude when it comes to instilling ideas in a childs mind. While I think that some ideas are harmful ones, so do others think that some of my ideas are harmful. In a diversified society, tolerance isn't only a virtue, it is a necessity. The moment we start to strip parents of their right to teach their children the family religion, we strip ourselves of equivilent rights. As sad as it makes me to see children infected with such pernicious memes as creationism, or the sort of self-loathing that so many forms of Christianity make core to their belief, or the outright misogyny of Islam [1], or any of the other vile thoughts that parents put into their kids minds, I would not deny them the right to instruct their children as they wish.

  All that I can do is to hope that the children so raised will eventually find their ideas in collision with the real world and that reality will eventually win out. (Andrew Lias)

• I certainly do. It is filling an innocent child's head with all kinds of superstitious nonsense, much of it very frightening and disgusting, before the child is old enough to understand or even think about it on their own. And, with all the limiting and mind-warping rules and laws, the racism,the sexism and in some cases, the fanaticism that is required, it can be psychologically damaging. At this point in history I would say that religion certainly does more harm than good. (Michelle Malkin #1)

• I think the worst form of child abuse is not loving your children. Not respecting them is also abuse, in a way. That's what indoctrination is, not respecting your children's right to chose what they believe. I guess the real test comes when an indoctrinated child grows up and stops believing. If her parents still respect her decision and love her anyway, then I don't think it's abuse at all. If her parents don't love her anymore, then I think it's abuse.

  I hate being lied to. I hate the fact that my parents lied to me. But lies can be erased by truth. When a parent no longer loves a child, the truth offers little consolation.

  So I guess my answer is yes. Indoctrination is abuse. A child's self esteem is hurt by being forced to believe all those lies. There are worse forms of abuse though. (Veyanne)