How to Tell You've Been Indoctrinated

[Clueless Morgan]

I'm not sure what you mean by "indoctrinated." It seems you're using it as a synonym for brainwashed, which is a concept of some ill repute. If we were to rephrase the question as, "How do you know when you've learned about the existence of God?" then the question tends to lose the rather negative attitude involved by using the term "indoctrinated." I think you're biasing your conclusions by using loaded terminology.

Indoctrination and brainwashing are synonymous. I won't repeat the definition of indoctrination as popeyespappy has already provided one which I feel is adequate.

The question I posed, "How do you think one realizes that indoctrination has taken place when one has been indoctrinated?" has the same meaning as "How do you think one realizes that brain-washing has taken place when one has been brain-washed?"

It does not have the same meaning as "How do you think one realizes that one has learned about the existence of God when one has learned about the existence of God?" (What does that even mean?)

We know indoctrination and brain-washing occurs. To the best of my knowledge that's not in dispute - please correct me if I'm wrong. So your restatement of my question is not only a misunderstanding of the purpose of my post, it's completely beside the point. You can be indoctrinated into something that has nothing to do with god or religion, as I was with the D.A.R.E. program. The question I'm asking is not "How do you know when you've learned about the existence of God?" it is "If you become indoctrinated or brainwashed into anything, how do you come to know that indoctrination or brainwashing has taken place?"

Furthermore, my question to others in the forums was (I'm rephrasing here) "If you have had the experience of being indoctrinated or brainwashed (which in the case of the members of these forums is likely to have occurred in the context of religion, though it's not confined to this context) how did you come to know that you had been indoctrinated? What was the impetus of this realization?"

I maybe should have posted this thread in the philosophy forum, but since my particular interest happens to lie in a better understanding of religious indoctrination (which I never experienced) I posted it in the Religion forum. I don't suppose I can move it now, perhaps if a mod thinks the Philosophy forum is a better place for it I wouldn't be opposed to it being moved...