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Faith and Indoctrination
Topic Started: 17 Jul 2013, 01:35 PM (564 Views)
Midst Of Vampy
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Barabbas
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Seeing as the vast majority of this website is Christian, I thought I'd ask some questions nobody has really been able to answer for me. How do you think religion would continue in a positive sense if indoctrination ceased? Obviously this would never happen, but it's a nice hypothetical situation to think about. A large number of religious beings are indoctrinated, taught at a very young age. Of course, religion is based purely off of faith so when asked in their later years to use evidence and fact, I don't tend to receive much.
I also wanted to know why people use faith as a basis for life instead of fact and evidence. I understand theists believe their religion IS fact, but why do you do so without evidence? Lets take an aspect of theism. Creationism. Why wouldn't you believe in evolution as opposed to creationism? even if the evidence we have for evolution is far lesser than prime, there is still a lot more than there is for creationism. When I argue with theists, most of them tend to ignore when I present fact, but then use the argument that all I hold is "evidence" for evolution, the Big Bang theory, etc. That hardly seems fair. Basically what I'm trying to ask is why base your life off of faith instead of siding with the most fact and evidence? Please leave your thoughts below! :D
TIMEY-WHIMEY SKITTLES!
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Patrick Majewski
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A man's life is changed by a dare
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Why people prefer faith INSTEAD of facts in view of creationism vs evolution, maybe because evolution and science do not offer an exclusive or divine purpose. The complexities of how life was and is formed may seem an enigma to us, that science cannot always explain everything in its entirety unlike religion supposedly can. The urge for purpose is desired among us all, and I think if religion is smart enough to manipulate us, I'm sure it's also smart at filling in the gaps of false hopes and dreams.
Edited by Patrick Majewski, 26 Jul 2013, 07:29 AM.
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Afalstein
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Mountain Gnome
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You may need to define "indoctrination" better. If you mean how religion would develop if churches stopped teaching children doctrine, then probably not very well, but how much would, say, science develop if we stopped teaching children that? By failing to teach them, we imply that the subject is not important, the children stop caring, and the subject dies out. However, it's worth noting that some religions have died off only to be revived later by enthusiastic hippies or philosophers, so cessation of "indoctrination" would not necessarily lead to cessation of religion.

I personally think that if we stopped teaching children doctrine, then the numbers in the church would dwindle. I also think that this would probably lead to moral degradation and chaos in society at large, as people lost reasons to care about morality. Probably a great many suicides, as others lost sight of why they should keep living--nihilism and existentalism are not for everyone. But also, probably, eventually, a rebirth of religion as people began to want something more--akin to what you saw in the aftermath of 9/11. Chaos and disorder will always be in the world, and chaos leads people to seek for meaning and order, which they tend to find in religion. Speculation, I grant you, but the question calls for speculation.

As for the faith vs. fact/reason argument, I'd first like to point out that these aren't always brought into conflict. Many Christians DO, in fact, believe in a form of evolution, just one guided by God. I consider that position logically unsound, but most of my science teachers did hold to it. Those that believe in Creationism are just as likely to say that they DO believe in facts, they just have a different interpretation of those facts/reasons. There are whole science institutes dedicated to proving Creationism. Now that might not be a sound way to conduct scientific inquiry, and you can debate the science of said institutes, but the fact that they exist shows that many Christians do at least CARE about facts.

But I do know plenty of Christians who will say that it "doesn't matter what the men in white coats say." It's an unsound position for a lot of reasons. But most of these people are people who haven't devoted their lives to science, and are constantly hearing arguments and counter-arguments for evolution/creationism, until finally they give up on the debate and just say it doesn't matter anyway, the Bible is the ultimate truth. A big part of this position is that scientific thought is always changing anyway--typical quotes about Galileo, bleeding, etc.--whilst God's word is eternal. Science will eventually come around to agreeing with it.
Edited by Afalstein, 10 Aug 2013, 01:44 PM.
"Evil Triumphs when Good men do nothing."
-Edmund Burke
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Deleted User
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Midst Of Vampy
17 Jul 2013, 01:35 PM
How do you think religion would continue in a positive sense if indoctrination ceased? Obviously this would never happen, but it's a nice hypothetical situation to think about. A large number of religious beings are indoctrinated, taught at a very young age. Of course, religion is based purely off of faith so when asked in their later years to use evidence and fact, I don't tend to receive much.
Not withstanding evidence based and traditional apologetics my personal opinion is that we are all to some extent 'religious' beings we just have different faiths and opinions...
I will have to dig up some facts however I'm certain that a good number of people find their faith in their later years and then precede to learn the doctrines...as was the case for me....having lived a life very much apart from God before accepting him into my life in my early 20's
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