Indoctrination

[Roxy904]

I'm the oldest of three siblings. All of them are still Catholic (as far as I know) because they have been indoctrinated in to this faith. My youngest sister's Reconciliation is coming up, and today at dinner, she talked about how nervous she was. My parents told her that she had nothing to be worried about, that God would forgive her, etc. This is one of the things I find to be so repulsive about Catholicism. It installs this sense of blame, and guilt in innocent people from a young age. "Jesus died for our sins." I didn't ask him to die for me; I accept full responsibility for my actions. My siblings should learn that, but instead they are merely forced to believe that Jesus died because they sinned. I'm not sure how to let them be able to develop their own perspectives, but I'm concerned that Christianity will continue to negatively influence them, perhaps even to adulthood.

[Dystopia]

You could always slowly manipulate their minds out of faith... I've done this with a few people, it's not easy, but not bloody hard either.. It just takes some patience.

[SteelCurtain]

If you are going to do some education of the little ones, you need to be subtle. Your parents probably won't take kindly to your alter-education of their children.

I think it's gotta be all about teaching them how to question things. What questions to ask, that adults are not infallible, that being incredulous is a good thing. Teach them the value and virtue of being a skeptic.

[AFTT47]

Roxy, this is a real bitch. It's one of those things that there is no easy answer to. Under our system of government (specifically, the U.S.A. but equally applicable to all Western governments) there is no way to justify anyone dictating how parents raise their children. That's a good thing in that it's a shield against government tyranny. We need that. The downside is obvious - you have pointed it out.

All I can say is that we need to do exactly what you are doing: Have the courage to speak out, be ourselves and not be sheep. Over time, we must educate the general populace. Then they will do the right thing. It has to be THEIR choice though. We could use government power to force them but if we grant the government power to do that... History is full of bad examples.

Just be you and don't be shy about expressing your opinion. That will take care of it in the long run.

[Nope]

How old are your siblings? If they are young enough, offer to read them the mythologies of different cultures. Kids like to be read to and would probably jump at the chance to spend time with their older sibling. Hell, I am 48 and I like to be read to also.

You can point out that the people who believed these myths believed them with as much fervor as your siblings do theirs but drop the subject after that. Be subtle and plant a few seeds. Read Genesis to them. The first book of the bible is crazy. You can let them know many Christians just consider the stories to be metaphors so it is okay to point out the nuttiness in them.

I would disagree slightly with AFTT. Until you leave home, be shy about expressing your opinion to your parents. You are dependent on them for food,shelter and decent treatment. Your parents might very well be wonderful people who would never try to pay you back for leaving their faith but the risk is too great for me to suggest that a young atheist not be very careful about stating their lack of believes.

[Norman Humann]

Being in a similar situation, my advice is to maintain a low profile until you're out of there. I know it may seem very hard, but it's the better way out. If your parents are anything like mine, faith is not up to discussion. When you're independent, they'll just have to deal with that.

I suggest being discrete with your siblings. Trying to prevent their indoctrination is noble, but doing that directly may cause some problems. I'd say encourage them to read, or read to them, try to educate them about religion indirectly. Instead of giving them the answers right away, encourage them to look for them themselves. If they're like you, they'll come to the same conclusion you did.

[Minimalist]

I'm curious, Roxy. How do you parents rationalize the pervert priest scandals?

[Roxy904]

I'm curious, Roxy. How do you parents rationalize the pervert priest scandals?

They don't even mention them. That's probably partially because my siblings are 11, 9, and 7. Overall, however, my parents are fairly rational.

[Tonus]

They don't even mention them.

That's not surprising, I figure there's a bit of "that would never happen here" at work. My mother often took some delight in pointing out the existence of such scandals for the mainstream Christian churches, but to my knowledge she is utterly clueless to the known instances involving JWs and would readily accept any defense of those men or simply fall back on either "they weren't True Believers" or "yeah, but they were caught and tossed from the organization." Presumably (actually, I'm sure of this) she would drop the subject if it was pointed out that some of them were protected by the organization and even moved around in the hopes of avoiding scandal.*


*Which is perhaps the most mystifying part of any of these scandals. Considering the recidivism rate of such criminals, moving them around simply guarantees that when they are finally unmasked, the damage done has been increased dramatically. In other words, when your religious organization moves them from one area to the next, they do so with the understanding that they will target and victimize more people.

[Aisha]

They don't even mention them.

That's not surprising, I figure there's a bit of "that would never happen here" at work.

Don't forget "if we don't talk about it, it will go away by itself"