Do you feel that relegious indoctrination can prevent a person from making intelligent decisions?

Question

Thozz - I specifically meant 'indoctrination'. I agree that we need a spiritual world (I myself am spiritual), but I feel that when people speak to you or tell you in a forcible way about what to do and what not to do, without backing it up intelligently - they can cause harm to your mental development in the long run.

Answer 1

Of course--they turn into sheep!

Answer 2

I understand your point, but indoctrination is not the precise word for what you are describing:
In·doc·tri·na·tion
n. The act of indoctrinating, or the condition of being indoctrinated; instruction in the rudiments and principles of any science or system of belief; information. Sir T. Browne.

The answer is yes, religion can be used to get people to force much of the gray area of life into black and white, which is a form of denial of reality. To deny reality of necessity leads to ignorant decisions. One of my best friends became a fundamentalist Christian during college; I am a practicing Catholic. We would debate things, until it became clear that he was not listening to me or thinking for himself, but was totally depending on answers that had been provided for him. Sad, too, because the guy is brilliant.

Note: I think there is a common error that is made by both religious and non-religious people that is reflected in some of the answers here. That is, both sides tend to feel and believe strongly about their being the one in the right, so they demean the other side, and judge them as unintelligent or ignorant. The reality is that both belief and unbelief are perfectly reasonable, valid, and generally effective views. There is no reason at all that one must be prejudiced against those who don't agree on this. My guess is that such an attitude often comes from insecurity about one's own belief or unbelief. The world is big enough for the both of us.

Answer 3

Religious indoctrination can definately hamper a person's decision making. The problem as I see it, is that the people are indocrinated with fear. They think that they will be condemed if they don't follow specific beliefs, or they think that other people will be condemed or that "God" would be displeased. Any decision that is fear based is coming from a place of ignorance rather than knowledge. The only true religion is that of love and tolerance for others. That is what Jesus preached, that's what the eastern religions talk about. The rest of it is an opportunity for the fearful to congregate and the greedy to reap profits from their fears.

Answer 4

There is a difference between religious indoctrination and religious exposure. It has been proven that children who are "un-churched" are more likely to be drawn to religious extremism. Exposure to religion allows a person to begin to think about a universe bigger than themselves and their own little circle. It causes them to think about things such as where they are from, why they are here, what is there purpose, and where are they going. On the flip side, indoctrination, which allows for no independent thinking whatsoever, just strict compliance, creates such marvels as Osama Bin Laden and Tom Cruise. There is a huge difference between say, Mother Theresa, who obviously thought a great deal, about humanity, about purpose, about what she could do as an individual who can improve the lives of other and the world and universe, as opposed to a suicide bomber who straps on a bomb and blindly kills innocent men, women, and children. So, indoctrination I would say that indoctrination of any kind-political, religious, social, etc, does create lemmings that will not make intelligent decisions, but just blindly fall off the proverbial cliff.

Answer 5

I feel that when people get sufficiently deep into religious matters (constant prayer meetings, scripture study) it can actually affect their entire decision making process.

Instead of taking responsibility for their own life, its direction and individual choices, they actually "avoid" making decisions, and instead interpret scripture in order to find the "right" decision for almost every little thing.

They begin to see things in a very dichotomous fashion. It's like the saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail.

People can get to the point where they see only two possible choices to any situation. Life becomes a matter of black and white for them.

Life is usually not as simple as "either-or," but the "spiritual peace" that some say they experience is a matter of refraining or evading decision making altogether.

If they tell themselves that any particular path they take is directed by scripture, then it totally absolves them of any responsibility or guilt regarding the consequences.

Answer 6

I certainly do now. A good example arose just 10 days ago. Have you ever heard some one say that Valentine's Day was acceptable, since it was not harmful to their religion?
The person who told me this liked the idea (the celebration of Love) of celebrating this day, and found it acceptable personally, but if someone in a postion of power in her religion spoke out against it, she would probably not think of celebrating it. It was the first time I have heard the "conditional acceptance" of this celebration, which has never been a Christian celebration to me. Perhaps if word of the pagan Feast of Lupercalia got out, it would be quickly condemned!

Answer 7

Not really- I think certain people are capable of making intelligent decisions, and others aren't. Some of the things which cause intelligent people to make unintelligent decisions are greed, lust, love, fatigue, alcohol, or drug use. I think religion would have nothing to do with decision-making ability.

Answer 8

I feel that the absence of religion can prevent people from making intelligent decisions.
We live in a spiritual universe, like it or not.
You adapt to it or rely on your fallible human intuition.

Answer 9

yes. not always, of course, but i do believe religion can really warp a person's mind. many religions, especially those of western popularity, need people to become dependent. or shall i say, the institutions, of churches need dependence to keep the money flowing in, and the fear instilled deep. a fearful person is not a confident person, and therefore cannot make sound decisions.

Answer 10

I think that is can, does and has happened for a long time.

Its the exception rather than the rule in my opinion, but those exceptions can sure cause a lot of trouble for everyone else.

Answer 11

i don`t think so because the intellect is part of the spirit. in fact the best scientists are proving that God exists!