Religious schools and indoctrination

Dear Readers,


Friends of mine have noticed television ads for Christian schools. Some Christians schools do provide good educational value, although most are just another attempt to indoctrinate children into a specific worldview without giving them the chance to think about it for themselves.  I bet you that a lot of teenagers in Christian schools are very uneducated about a lot of issues and may be very  sexually promiscuous due to anti-sex messages that they hear from their parents and/or other legal guardian as well as their denominational affiliated churches. As if kids don't have a desire for being intellectually curious about scientific and historical issues or aren't curious about sexual expression and sexuality, unless they are asexual and don't have strong romantic or sexual attractions to very many people.






Many fundamentalist Christians, particularly those associated with the evangelical movement that is actively involved with conservative political parties, homeschool the children to shield them from anything that does not conform to their specific worldview. Imagine. How do you think atheists and other non-religious people would be perceived by the world if we chose to do that to our kids?  It seems to me that religious kids who grew up in fundamentalist households are less likely to be college-educated because they will learn to have their worldview challenged and have to think for themselves.  Fundamentalist religious persons, particular in the U.S. , Christians, regardless of what denomination, branch, sect, splinter-group or movement that they are a member of have pretty much always been skeptical of critical thinking, reasoning abilities, scientific inquiry and public education provided by secular governments. Have you ever wondered why those "Good News Clubs" infiltrate public educational facilities geared towards pre-pubescent children?








I think it's abhorrent that some religious schools scare their students with threats of eternal punishment or annihilation if they don't do what their told. That's emotional abuse and psychological abuse to me. How is that any different from an atheist that would tell their kid, if they don't do this or that the "right" way, that they'll slit their throat with a butcher knife or lock them in a room and set the room aflame? How sadistic, right? Well, threats of punishment and death are actually very effective and can do terrible things to people. Look at Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Joseph McCarthy for instance.  Education can be a great tool to get people to think for themselves, but sometimes people use it to indoctrinate people into a certain worldview without letting them make up their own minds and that is a very dangerous thing.


Sincerely,


B.W.