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Bookmark on DeliciousWhat Would Jesus Do?- A deliberation on the immorality of subjecting a child to religious indoctrination.
Rating:
( based on 3 reviews)
Published: Dec. 31, 2010
Words: 2413 (approximate)
Language: English
Description
Attempted religious indoctrination of children is immoral; we need to break the cycle of ignorance and start progressing in a forward direction. While religious schools or bible study groups for children may have benefits, the negative consequences outweigh any possible positive effects. Religion is a fact of human nature; it should be addressed pragmatically not dogmatically.Tags
nature, education, children, religion, christianity, jesus, science, child, philosophy, atheism, free, essay, abuse, islam, judaism, secularism, atheist, naturalism, secular, indoctrinationAvailable ebook reading formats
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Review by:
David Fitzgerald
on May 11, 2011 :
I agree with Richard Kerr that this essay is a good starting point. John Duff has provided good information and statistics on the current state of religious education, and its often-overlooked societal costs, including prejudice, ethnocentrism, cognitive regulation, deceitfulness, and pseudo-science. Like Sam Harris, Duff points out that while there are also positive effects to any kind of religious indoctrination, these benefits can also be achieved in other ways that do not entail misinforming our children or creating unnecessary and divisive prejudice.
(review of free book)
Review by:
Richard Kerr
on Dec. 31, 2010 :
This essay is a good starting point to discuss education and indoctrination. There’s a concise description for differences between the two, and I hadn’t thought of it in those terms before. Observations and arguments are made throughout and they are enough to make the point. Of course the essay is too short to be a full history of religious education, but then this is a discussion about today. Instead I will be dipping into the bibliography at the end to read further on any things that caught my eye.
Less well put is point that Sunday school could be a good thing. In an essay warning against indoctrination the argument that teachers can do this more effectively than parents is not case for Sunday school. The fact that religious parents find religious school good for their child’s religiousness doesn’t break out of an obvious circle. There’s no ‘other case’ to make a comparison. If Sunday pottery classes were the norm could many of the same social and mental benefits not be seen? We won’t know. If there is a case it needs better put. (See! I’m discussing already).
Overall it’s well written. It says a lot and it’s an easy read. My essays were always stodgy and convoluted. For those still at school this is well worth a crtl+c, ctrl+v job for your homework. I’ll be looking out for more.
(review of free book)
Review by:
Francis Porretto
on Dec. 31, 2010 :
Despite being a devout Catholic, I am of the opinion that religious indoctrination of children is unwise and all too often detrimental. I was looking forward to reading Mr. Duff's thought on the subject. What a terrible disappointment to discover that his principal argument is that all religions are just silly, destructive myths that deserve only to be debunked in a secular setting.
Mr. Duff's true aim is to assail Christianity. There are several huge giveaways buried in his article. He appears unable to discriminate constructively among religions, unwilling to compare or contrast the teachings of their founders with the behavior of their followers, and uninterested in the evolution of the behavior of religious groups over the centuries. No doubt he would reply that there's no point in discriminating among creeds based on myths.
The pseudo-scholastic framework in which Mr. Duff couches his "argument" gives it a veneer of authority it doesn't deserve. But then, one would expect little more from a writer who deems convictions that cannot, by their very nature, be proved or disproved to be unworthy of serious consideration on their merits.
(review of free book)