So yesterday I was having a discussion with a student in my class. Somehow, it turned theological, and everything was going well. Until she made a comment like, "Sometimes I don't know what I believe in, like I know it's the truth that God exists, but I just don't know--" I cut her off immediately. "NO it's NOT the truth!" I say.
This is probably what bothers me most about indoctrination is that we don't tell young, innocent minds that we are pumping them full of a theory, not facts. This leads to multiple other dilusions in life [citation needed].
One of the things that gets me is that we expect our students to think critically, consider evidence, and ask tough questions on all matters except religion. Critical thinking and skepticism shouldn't stop simply because religion is involved.
ReplyDeleteOur students and our children. We'll tell them to always ask "why", to always inquire, find the truth, tell only the truth, seek answers to our questions, learn, but then we tell them to blindly believe in something that is extremely unproveable as well as extremely far-fetched. I would be interested in joining some type of online or in-person community that gives advice and materials to help aid parents in morally educating children, which I am sure everyone would agree is very important. I have heard some atheist people say that they will use God for that purpose, and then tell their children later that God doesn't exist, around the same time they break similar bad news regarind Santa...
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