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Is Indoctrinating Your Children a Form of Child Abuse?
I've run across the titles question several times over the last few years. Every time I tend to disagree with indoctrination being described as child abuse. It could be because I was raised going to church and my mind recoils at the prospect that my parents may have been unwittingly performing a sort of child abuse on me. I will say that if it is child abuse, I didn't mind it very much. I actually looked forward to going to church. Some children find church boring but I always enjoyed the stained glass windows, the smell of oiled wood and the opportunity to question Sunday School teachers on the doctrine they were attempting to get me to believe. I also enjoyed spending time with my family (especially my dear Nan) who would accompany us to church on Sundays and spoil me with Life Saver candy.
But that's a whole other story.
The most famous charge that indoctrinating your children with your religious beliefs is child abuse is in The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Most arguments for religious indoctrination being a form of child abuse go something like this:
1) Children are mentally predisposed to believing what their parents tell them. It generally works in their favor. If they went around questioning everything their parents told them, they probably wouldn't last very long, especially in the wild. This makes children more susceptible to religious indoctrination. Convincing a child that a particular religious idea is true is much easier to do when they're still children than it would be a full grown adult who had never been indoctrinated in the first place.
2) Some religions teach that some medical procedures aren't allowed by their religion. This can lead to children being denied medical treatment and ultimately death. Even if they don't suffer a significant illness in their childhood, there is no guarantee that their indoctrination will not lead them to deny themselves lifesaving medical procedures as adults.
3) Some religions teach that horrible torment awaits those who do not believe in their religion. They also teach that if they do believe, they will be rewarded in some way. This sort of teaching works in two ways - by preying on a parents natural inclination to protect their child from eternal torment and by instilling fear in the child.
4) Indoctrination is a form of brainwashing.
5) That indoctrination hampers a child's critical thinking skills and places faith based thinking over evidence based thinking.
6) That indoctrination usually leads to children growing into adults who will in turn, indoctrinate their children in the same way they were.
7) Indoctrination can lead to biased views, such as anti-homosexuality, which is backed up by their doctrine to reinforce such beliefs.
Now, I'm not saying I agree with any of those points. I'm just stating what some people claim when they make the case that indoctrinating children is a form of child abuse.
Here's an example of a page that tries to describe a few of these points:
The recognized forms of child abuse by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) include slavery, human trafficking, debt bondage, serfdom, forced labor, armed conflict, prostitution, pornography, illicit activities (drugs, genital mutilation of girls). However, these ignore Article 14 Charter of Right of Children which concerns the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Whether religious indoctrination should be considered a form a child abuse is obviously a controversial topic, but children are involuntarily involved in religious practice from the time they are born. This includes daily rituals, preaching, religious readings all of which are unquestioningly forced upon the developing and impressionable minds of children. Children are often placed in schools which further indoctrinate the religious views of the church of the parents. Many are also taught not to question – especially not to question authority figures and this has played in a role in the Catholic Church’s many sexual abuse scandals.
The one question I would have for the owners of this site (New Atheist Movement) is would they consider indoctrinating their children to be atheists child abuse? I know there is not any necessary doctrine involved with being an atheist, but for all intents and purposes, if you teach your child to dislike theists and that all religion is dangerous (for arguments sakes) then you are passing on your specific beliefs on the matter. Who is to say that your child might have been happier believing in some higher power or that they might have been more productive as human beings because of their chosen belief structure if they hadn't been told by their parents that atheism is the only way to go?
Furthermore, if religious indoctrination is deemed child abuse now or in the future, how could it possibly be handled? When we as a society suspect and prove that a child is being abused, we usually take them away or step in to ensure the child's safety.
Granted, I've yet to read an atheist site that advocated for taking children from parents who indoctrinated their children in religious beliefs, but you have to admit, that this sort of idea leaves the door wide open for that to happen.
The reason why I started thinking this over tonight is because of a recent Canadian news story. In Quebec, they have decided to teach a mandatory comparative religion class. You would think that religious parents would be happy but the opposite seems to be the case. Here's what the story reported one religious parent saying:
The mother of the Grade 4 pupil said on Friday that the mixed messages of the Quebec program and have caused her son to question his faith at an age where he should be listening to parental instruction.
“There is a time and place for everything, and this exposure should come later. Unless, of course, the entire point of the exercise is to sow doubt,” said the woman, who can be identified only as S.L. under a court order. “I want to assure you, I’m for openness, but I refuse to treat my faith as something freakish. Just how far do we have to go to call ourselves welcoming and tolerant?”
It sounds to me like she's saying she needs more time to indoctrinate her son. What is wrong with her son asking poignant questions and using his critical thinking skills to explore the truth behind the claims?
And this is the crux of the matter in my opinion. Personally, I don't view religious indoctrination as child abuse. I think that's going too far. If a parent teaches their son or daughter to be racist, we don't step in and take the child away, even if we consider it bad parenting. And no I'm not saying racism is comparable to religious ideas. What I am saying, is that we don't have to agree with everything a parent teaches their children, but we have to respect their right to raise their children.
In my honest opinion, the ideal situation would be if parents allowed their children to make up their own minds. Parents can furnish their children with material to read and discuss with them the different belief structures, including their own. The child (or adult) can then use their critical thinking skills to come to their own conclusions.
I'm certainly not the best parent in the world, but even though I'm not a fan of theistic, dogmatic religions, I try to allow my son to make up his own mind on the matter without allowing (as much as possible) my thoughts to infect his own.
It turns out he does believe in a higher power and that's okay by me. I'll love him no matter what he chooses and if that belief comforts him and makes him happy, then I'll stand aside and allow him to think and believe what he wants.
I also think we need to be extra careful when throwing around the term 'child abuse'.
