{"id":447,"date":"2011-10-06T19:42:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T19:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/10\/indoctrination-is-not-thinking-for-yourself.html"},"modified":"2011-10-06T19:42:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-06T19:42:00","slug":"indoctrination-is-not-thinking-for-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/10\/indoctrination-is-not-thinking-for-yourself.html","title":{"rendered":"Indoctrination Is Not Thinking For Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Over at Religion Dispatches<\/a>, Paul Wallace has taken notice of Richard Dawkins\u2019 idea for a \u201cThink for Yourself Academy\u201d for children.\u00a0 Dawkins said in a NY Times interview<\/a> that this academy \u201cwould not be a school for atheists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea horrifies him. A child should skip down an idiosyncratic intellectual path. \u201cI am almost pathologically afraid of indoctrinating children,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Wallace can\u2019t understand this at all:<\/p>\n

And really, why not an atheist school? As Chris Mooney wrote<\/a> over at Science Progress in response to the same Times profile: \u201cDawkins really, really, really thinks he\u2019s right about things.\u201d Assuming that\u2019s the case, why not teach children the truth? I mean, if it\u2019s true? Isn\u2019t it good to know the truth, and isn\u2019t it our duty to pass the truth on to our kids?<\/p>\n

Yes, but apparently the greatest virtue\u2014that children should not be indoctrinated\u2014now trumps even the truth. This seems somehow wrong to me, and very un-Dawkins. What\u2019s going on here?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He recalls his own indoctrination and the wonderfully open Catholic priest who supposedly invited him to think for himself about God.\u00a0 He can\u2019t fathom why Dawkins would oppose the same approach for atheism:<\/p>\n

Dawkins\u2019 distaste for an officially atheist academy may be mere iconoclasm. But maybe not. Maybe it\u2019s closer to the truth to say he could never allow the kind of intellectual openness found routinely in parochial schools around the world.<\/p>\n

\u2026What many Catholics know, and what Richard Dawkins appears not to, is that the idea of children moving through life without serious intellectual and moral direction\u2014in this insane world, of all places\u2014is a terrible joke and a recipe for social catastrophe.<\/p>\n

My wife and I are raising three Christian children. We take them to church at least twice a week. There, as at home, they are told exactly who they are, what exactly is expected of them, and why. We expect them to internalize this and come to see themselves as part of a story, a big beautiful story grounded in the reality and love of God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He concludes by noting that his children can make up their own minds when they grow up, though he would be \u201csaddened\u201d if they left Christianity.<\/p>\n

There are many so ways that Wallace just doesn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n

First of all, his Catholic indoctrination was not about teaching him to think for himself.\u00a0 He writes of \u201cintellectual openness found routinely in parochial schools around the world\u201d?\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 I\u2019ve been intimately involved with quite a few parochial schools.\u00a0 If I had to make a list of their qualities, \u201cintellectual openness\u201d wouldn\u2019t even make the list.\u00a0 If indeed, as he imagines, he was invited to deny the existence of God, it was only to open the door to more indoctrination.\u00a0 And it clearly worked.<\/p>\n

Secondly, no atheist (especially those who, like Dawkins, espouses secular humanism) believes in allowing children to go without \u201cserious intellectual and moral direction.\u201d\u00a0 What we object to is attributing that direction to a supernatural force rather than to the application of sound, modern scientific and ethical thinking.<\/p>\n

Finally, his expectations are that his children will internalize his \u201cbig beautiful\u201d fairy tale about the origin of the world, the place of humanity and our responsibilities.\u00a0 They are growing up knowing \u201cwhat exactly is expected of them.\u201d\u00a0 That leaves very little room for rebellion.\u00a0 And even if they should have their eyes opened, the pressure to conform will be overwhelming.<\/p>\n

What Dawkins understands is that once children are exposed to what his new book call \u201cthe magic of reality,\u201d it is very difficult for them to backslide into supernatural explanations.\u00a0 I know something about indoctrination, having witnessed up close its effects on people I love.\u00a0 Indoctrination places a premium on faith \u2013 even in the absurd \u2013 over and above any and all evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n

I am certain that Wallace\u2019s children will be good Catholics.\u00a0 They\u2019ll probably be too scared, or too ignorant, not to be.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over at Religion Dispatches, Paul Wallace has taken notice of Richard Dawkins\u2019 idea for a \u201cThink for Yourself Academy\u201d for children.\u00a0 Dawkins said in a NY Times interview that this academy \u201cwould not be a school for atheists.\u201d The idea horrifies him. A child should skip down an idiosyncratic intellectual path. \u201cI am almost pathologically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,8,27,38],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-atheism","tag-catholicism","tag-morality","tag-science-and-reason"],"yoast_head":"\nIndoctrination Is Not Thinking For Yourself<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over at Religion Dispatches, Paul Wallace has taken notice of Richard Dawkins\u2019 idea for a \u201cThink for Yourself Academy\u201d for children.\u00a0 Dawkins said in a NY\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/10\/indoctrination-is-not-thinking-for-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indoctrination Is Not Thinking For Yourself\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over at Religion Dispatches, Paul Wallace has taken notice of Richard Dawkins\u2019 idea for a \u201cThink for Yourself Academy\u201d for children.\u00a0 Dawkins said in a NY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/10\/indoctrination-is-not-thinking-for-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-06T19:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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