A Question for Non-Believers about Brainwashing?

Question

The majority of Athiests are all about freedom of choice.

So why does anyone that have a different point of view from you, brainwashed? Don't you realize how angry that makes people that have studied their religion their entire lives?

If you're about freedom of choice, isn't it their choice to believe differently then you?

And I'm not talking about those that a extremists in their religion and are just as nasty as athiests, cause there are bad people in every religious group. I'm talking about those that you attack who do nothing but state that they believe differently then you, without attacking your beliefs.

After all, it's a choice. It's not legislated as to what you should believe (at least not in the USA).

PS - To be brainwashed implies that one does not have a choice in the matter. If that is the case, than everyone would be a member of some religion. But the fact is, the dominant religions leave it up to you to choose if you believe or not. They don't force you to accept their doctrine.

Answer 1

tbh i think some atheist are just as bad as fundie christians, at least agnostics admit they dont know the truth instead of assuming they do.

Answer 2

Why because the vast majority of children are not raised with multiple religions. They are raised with just 1. This almost always forces them to end up the same religion as your parents. There is no freedom of choice because within a 90 percentile you will be what your parents are/were. If religion was really a freedom of choice and everyone really explored other religions before adopting any one specific religion wouldn't there be an even % of beliefs in countries? Like brazil wouldn't it be 20% buddhism 20% judiasm 20% christian blah blah blah or at least somethign remotely CLOSE to randomized. NO this is not what happens. Look at muslim countries do you see a lot of converts to christianity? How about here in the US? Do you brainwashed sheep in the "bible belt" frequently convert over to islam? Does it happen to some people, of course. But the HUUUUUUGE #s show that it does not.

Answer 3

I think the real issue here are the terms that are used. I think a lot of people interchange the terms brainwashing and indoctrination. Brainwashing is forcing someone to adopt radically different beliefs. Indoctrination is teaching someone to adopt a set of beliefs uncritically. Indoctrination is what most atheists are against, and most see it as bad as brainwashing. When it comes to religion, indoctrination also implies that there is no choice in the matter.

Now, let me ask you, how much choice can an infant exercise? Many religions teach their members to begin the religious education of their children from birth, and that they should be taught to accept the teachingsof the religion as unquestionable fact. Children, are genetically preprogrammed to trust and believe what their parents say, which makes the process easier. Parents take advantage of this without even realising, since the process happened to them when they were born, completeing a turn of a cycle that has been going on for generations.

I was raised by catholic parents, I know how it works. I had no say in my religious upbringing. I was baptised as an infant, and was forced to attend religous education classes and make sacraments that I really didn't care about making. Luckily I questioned my parents, something that most children do not do. It wasn't until I was older and my parents had less control over my life that I was able to make those decisions for myself. When I decide to have a child, it will not bbe indoctrinated into any religion. My child will also be able to read and learn about all different belief systems. Then, if they want to adhere to one, they will be free to with all of my support, because I know that they came to an informed decision that fits into their life.

So, yes, atheists are about freedom of choice, and anyone who was raised into a particular religion by their parents were denied that choice. It doesn't matter if they stay with that religion and study it their entire lives, they were still denied the opportunity to come to it on their own, or to reject it for something else. It was decided for them, by others. That is a major problem that atheists have with religion in general.

If I met a christian who was raised with no particular beliefs, and they were encouraged to study many different beliefs and decide for themselves what they believed, and after all that chose to be christian, then there would be no basis to call them brainwashed. I'm willing to bet that those people are in the minority.

Answer 4

I don't use the term "brainwashed", as that has a very specific meaning.

However, if you do believe in the supernatural, it is clearly largely because of a concerted effort to make a believer out of you, one reinforced by the church, the media, your parents, the government, etc.

In addition, you are wrong. There is nothing supernatural - no psychics or speaking with dead people or souls or gods or life after death. None of that is real.

If you choose to believe falsehoods - and apparently you do - you must learn to live with the fact that some of us choose to be more honest, and aren't going to be "politically correct" when it comes to talking about your errors.

You're misrepresenting the situation when you suggest that non-believers are against people having "a different point of view". What we're against is dishonesty - claiming that the supernatural falsehoods are really true.

I suspect that the folks who complain about this the way that you have are too caught up in the "everyone is right, there is no wrong, we all have the right to our beliefs" extreme relativism to recognize what is really going on.

Answer 5

Better question - why do *Christians* try to convert others so aggressively? Do you think we're stupid? If you're going to be brainwashing others into scaring them with myths of hell and damnation, then what do you expect, others to sit back and let Creationism spread like crazy? Aren't YOU attacking everyone's beliefs, every day, with the stupid mantras of Christ, running around with leaflets and standing from the street corner waving a big poster?

I don't think that the big religions leave it up to you to choose or ever had, it's not in their interest at all. Religion is the perfect way of controlling the masses! Christianity is being forcefed on everyone in the United States, it's only recently that people are starting to wake up. Hopefully you will too.

Btw, nogod Bless you!

Answer 6

"What became into the 1st creature ever till now or between unicellular creatures?" Are you for real? an hassle-free bacterium. "Believers have self assurance in some form of deity (God, Allah, Jawheh) and that they seem to get rewarded on each and every occasion they pray. Their existence is such as the lives that are defined in the holy books they examine." i've got yet to work out absolutely everyone be rewarded for clasping their arms and speaking to no one. I additionally dispute the declare that they stay like those of their holy books. what share Christians presently very own slaves, or have given up all their possessions to stay as Jebus tells them to in the e book? a million. How could you describe accident? can no longer or no longer this is a area of a divine plan? this is area of divine plan, yet why the hell could absolutely everyone think of this is extra advantageous than accident? 2. Why are you no longer a believer? some religions clarify stuff which could no longer be defined by utilising technology. isn't there a huge gamble that there could desire to be something obtainable? because of the fact there is not any stable reason to think of they are real. they do no longer clarify issues, they in simple terms make assertions and then spend right here few thousand years failing to returned them up with info. there is an hazard, yet so what? Why could desire to I care if there is not any longer something demonstrable? 3. in case you would be a deity who controls the international, what could you no longer do what the deities of modern religions describe of their holy books? i would not torture human beings perpetually. under any situations.

Answer 7

Brainwashing is perhaps an poor word to use due to the very negative connotations -- a better word might be indoctrination, but I think that word might not be strong enough. Brainwashing refers to the effect on people who are raised believing in god and never seriously examine their beliefs, but instead just continue to find ways to reinforce those beliefs, mainly by giving and seeking "testimonials" from others like them. Note that testimonials include the one-sided propaganda that fundamentalists publish trying to discredit legitimate science.

Let me say here that there are religious people who have really thought through their beliefs, and stayed religious. I know some people like that, and respect them. But they are a minority.

By the way, if you study the brain and childhood development, you realize how unfair it is to indoctrinate a child for the 12 years when they don't have any critical thinking skills. The indoctrination forms their whole world view, and makes it difficult for them to even comprehend a non-religious world view. I know, because I was one of those kids. It wasn't until I was in my mid 20s before I had shed most of that indoctrination, despite recognizing it in my early teens.

Answer 8

I honestly don't care what you or anybody else believes. I live in Holland, the majority here doesn't believe in the Biblical God, and we managed to get God out of our laws. So, all is fine here.

However, I can actually understand American atheists. US laws have God all over them, the whole society is like it's drenched in a bucket filled with God. I can understand how difficult it must be for them to live in a society where their beliefs are simply object of discrimination. Do you know that in 7 US states an atheist is not allowed to hold a job in public office? By law!

Again, I honestly don't care what you believe. I just firmly believe in Montsquieu's Trias Politica. God has no place in politics. Religion is to be practiced at home or in churches.

As an atheist, I don't believe religious people are brainwashed, I simply don't understand them. I mean, I understand what causes people to be religious, I just don't understand why they are religious. But hey, I don't feel the need to understand everything.

Answer 9

I can understand about being offended by some atheists, as they can be just as caustic and intolerable as fundementalists. The issue about freedom of choice is not that simple, though.

Many Christians preach about freedom of choice, but then are still willing to victimize someone over making a different decision than themselves. If you keep in mind that Christianity is enforced by fear of damnation, then one, I wouldn't call that freedom, I'd call it emotional blackmail. Two, if a person spends their entire childhood being victimized, harrassed, and threatened by people who profess to be Christian, than they're likely to form many negative opinions. That's what you're experiencing if it's not just arrogance, or at least that would be my best guess.

Answer 10

There's something called "peer pressure" that has an enormous effect. Not all brainwashing occurs with the victim tied down to a chair and getting water torture... But at the end of the day, I think most religious people choose religion freely. Because they are scared to do otherwise (fear of death, disapproval, being a social outcast, etc.).

Answer 11

Ok first off, not all atheists think christians are brainwashed. So please, for Christ's sake, stop saying "atheists" like we're one mass of bodies that never disagree with each other and speak with one voice.

I respect everyones beliefs, but I do believe that there is brainwashing in some areas of christianity. The Jesus Camp for example, is brainwashing. But most christians arent like that, and I respect them.