RE: What better explains choosing religion of parents.
July 27, 2014 at 11:51 am
(This post was last modified: July 27, 2014 at 11:52 am by Dystopia.)
To make my former argument denser, there are certain ages when children are far more vulnerable to ideas and values. Children see their parents as role models, they learn from them and are dependent on them. By teaching kids a specific religion, they'll pretty much grow up thinking it is the right one, the one and true one... The idea gets so much inside their mind and sub conscious (maybe Freud could explain this?) that it becomes very hard for them to deny their parents' religion in the future.
This explains why some people preach Christianity and only become atheists after being exposed to facts for 10 or even 20 years. I know some people who only de-converted at 40 or even 50 years old.
How do we explain that some religious theists continue to genuinely believe after being exposed to certain facts that pretty much disprove and leave doubt? Indoctrination plays a big role, along with wishful thinking. And indoctrination is not merely something that comes from parents, but from society, specially if it's a very religious or mostly religious one, if most people have the belief 'a god exists' as being the norm, it is more likely that an individual will believe in god. My friends see believing in god as being the norm because they think the universe is too perfect to be random, or because no one can explain how some people can see spirits and the experiences can't possibly be all hallucinations.
Of course that the norm doesn't happen every time... A question I find far more interesting is the following:
Why do some people are raised as atheists and then convert? Why do some people convert to a different religion than their parents' one? And why do some people become atheists and later become theists?
This explains why some people preach Christianity and only become atheists after being exposed to facts for 10 or even 20 years. I know some people who only de-converted at 40 or even 50 years old.
How do we explain that some religious theists continue to genuinely believe after being exposed to certain facts that pretty much disprove and leave doubt? Indoctrination plays a big role, along with wishful thinking. And indoctrination is not merely something that comes from parents, but from society, specially if it's a very religious or mostly religious one, if most people have the belief 'a god exists' as being the norm, it is more likely that an individual will believe in god. My friends see believing in god as being the norm because they think the universe is too perfect to be random, or because no one can explain how some people can see spirits and the experiences can't possibly be all hallucinations.
Of course that the norm doesn't happen every time... A question I find far more interesting is the following:
Why do some people are raised as atheists and then convert? Why do some people convert to a different religion than their parents' one? And why do some people become atheists and later become theists?
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
