As to beliefs ...

[mikkel_the_dane]

Abusive indoctrination is the actual
topic.

Well, there is a bit more to psychology than that, when it comes to beliefs.

 

[PureX]

I have to wonder though as to how many who get such an education might be more likely to rebel, given they just might think they had been cheated in life.

Why wonder? They will decide for themselves, regardless.

I went to a private religious school as a child. It not only did not stop me from asking questions, I never bought into the religion to begin with. So from my own experience, your suspicions are fully unfounded. People will doubt or not depending on who they are how they move through life. And teaching religion or not teaching it doesn't change that.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Why wonder? They will decide for themselves, regardless.

I went to a private religious school as a child. It not only did not stop me from asking questions, I never bought into the religion to begin with. So from my own experience, your suspicions are fully unfounded. People will doubt or not depending on who they are how they move through life. And teaching religion or not teaching it doesn't change that.

I don't think they are unfounded, given the figures. I think your experience is the odd one out in fact.

 

[PureX]

I don't think they are unfounded, given the figures. I think your experience is the odd one out in fact.

Judging by most of the kids I went to school with, my experience was not that unusual. As many of them grew up to reject religion as an active part of their lives. Though I suspect many will still claim the religion if asked on a survey.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Yeah, notice the "I" you use. So right back at you, I really don't understand how you cling to your upbringing, culture and beliefs. Given the denial of subjectivity and yet also the idea that this subjectivity is special.

Why think I clung to anything, when I've come to my beliefs by reasoning - subjective or not. You seem to just cast aside the fact that the majority having religious beliefs as children will likely keep these or just transfer to something similar. Sounds more like indoctrination than independent thinking to me.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Judging by most of the kids I went to school with, my experience was not that unusual. As many of them grew up to reject religion as an active part of their lives. Though I suspect many will still claim the religion if asked on a survey.

But we aren't just talking about the more multi-cultural countries where one's belief hardly matters. I am talking more as to worldwide.

 

[Nakosis]

I don't think they are unfounded, given the figures. I think your experience is the odd one out in fact.

I did my best to raise my kids without religious indoctrination.
Unfortunately no man is an island. The society around you applies it's own pressures.
I ended up with a Buddhist, an atheist and a spiritualist.
You the individual parent plays a minor role.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Just for interest, here is a rough breakdown of current religious beliefs. From the few links I cited, about 95% or more of Hindus apparently retain their religious beliefs. The figure might be similar for Muslims too, given the existence of apostasy. For Christianity, I would think that a majority retain their beliefs even if they might transfer to similar faiths. Just adding these figures up provides a majority without even looking at any of the others.

 

[icehorse]

Perhaps this approach is hardly feasible for all, but I would suggest that for those who would claim to be honest in all things then this approach as to having beliefs is a more serious one - in knowing the pitfalls first before setting out on a journey that could be more like caving than much else, that is, descending a rabbit hole.

And this isn't about me but simply about the dangers of not recognising the frailty of our human nature, which so many just do not seem to understand.

Any comments?

My intuition is that we ought to separate those things that we sense in the physical world from those things we experience linguistically and through thinking.

So if we focus on the linguistic / thinking (LT) beliefs, I agree that it's important to be self-reflective and honest about our core beliefs. I like to think in terms of foundational "axioms". Things we assume to be "true" that we might not be able to prove are "true" or that a relativist might claim are subjective.

For example, the religious person ought to be honest and say they believe in a god, but they cannot prove it.

As a secular humanist, I hope I'm being honest when I admit that I believe that humans can solve their own problems without supernatural help, but I can't prove it.