dEvangelized: Childhood Indoctrination in a Fundamentalist Church

In this series, I attempt to explain and critique the process of early indoctrination in a fundamentalist Christian faith. I first focus on the fact that our beliefs are usually determined by the place and time we've found ourselves in, look into Christian music as a tool of indoctrination, and then discuss how young minds are led to unquestioningly accept the Bible as a divine revelation.

"Train Up a Child"

Preachers often emphasize the importance of raising children with Christian principles by quoting Proverbs 22:6: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

The message of the passage sounds generic, simple, and innocuous. For if you think about it, it seems that whatever culture or time we find ourselves in, we know that our upbringing indeed effects a lifelong influence on us. If our parents taught us early in life the value of hard work and honest labor, we will likely live out our vocations or professions by the sweat of our brow and not the blood of our prey. If our parents taught us early to be compassionate to the less fortunate, we will likely become charitable adults.

In reality, the verse is quite simplistic. For while it may be true that many children follow in their parents' footsteps, some others do actually turn away from their parents' teachings in adulthood, or children whose parents have thrived on corruption and deceit may turn out to be decent human beings after all. It is no different from some other verses in this poetic collection which naively despises human wisdom (Proverbs itself is a product of human wisdom distilled from Egyptian, Mesopotamian and possibly Greek thoughts), or that evil deeds are always punished and good works are always rewarded (not really, in most instances).

Additionally, what we often overlook is the cultural context of the passage in question. Set in the ancient cultures of the Near East, it specifically meant teaching children the habits of thought and patterns of behavior in a Hebraic value system or worldview.

So although the passage seems to appeal to common sense, its sense actually becomes uncommon depending on who interprets it and how it is applied. When taught in a fundamentalist Christian community, it becomes -- as will be evident throughout our discussion -- quite specific, simplistic and toxic.

This is not to say that we should not teach children values that we hold dear. It is to say that we should inculcate in them an irenic spirit towards our religious neighbors; that we should teach them to appreciate the cultural diversity around us; that instead of encasing them in a sectarian mindset, we should cultivate critical thinking in them; that we should guide them to make friends for friendship's sake and not for some proselyting end, and to do good for goodness' sake and not for a reward here and the hereafter.

Now let's look at three phrases in the verse. First, "Train(ing) up a child" actually involves an imposition of a particular worldview (i.e., what constitutes reality, what is true, and how one behaves) on an innocent mind. Second, "the way [one] should go" is decided upon by fallible individuals or groups one happens to be in, and may not necessarily be the best for the child in the long run. Third, "not depart[ing] from [what was taught you]" may actually involve a lifelong fanatical adherence to a ridiculous idea, a patently false teaching, or an oppressive religious system.

In this way, children who have not fully developed their ability to determine right from wrong or falsehood from truth are brought up in a system of ideas and practices that have been set for them by grown-ups. These young minds will then likely follow that system for much of their life without ever having attempted to evaluate or critique it.

So whatever religious beliefs or practices we have are largely determined by where were born, which family or society we were born into, how we were raised, what type of education we have been exposed to, and even what mental capacities we were born with.

This fact of life was eloquently articulated over a century ago by Robert Ingersoll:

For the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our garments, depend on where we were born. We are moulded and fashioned by our surroundings.

Environment is a sculptor—a painter....

The Scotch are Calvinists because their fathers were. The Irish are Catholics because their fathers were. The English are Episcopalians because their fathers were, and the Americans are divided in a hundred sects because their fathers were. This is the general rule, to which there are many exceptions. Children sometimes are superior to their parents, modify their ideas, change their customs, and arrive at different conclusions. But this is generally so gradual that the departure is scarcely noticed, and those who change usually insist that they are still following the fathers. (Ingersoll 2012 [1900], n.p.)

• Ingersoll, Robert G. 2012 (1900). The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll. Vol. 3. Project Gutenberg. EPUB.

Indeed, if you are an American born in Salt Lake City, Utah you would likely be a Mormon for life, but if you were born in Casper, Wyoming you would likely be a devoted Jehovah's Witness. Either way, you would have believed that only your sect can claim to be the people of God and that Armageddon is near or that at least you are living in the Last Days.

If you grew up among the Amish in the Chihuahuan desert you would likely live an old-fashioned but nevertheless vibrant community that regards mobile phones and televisions as "temptations" of modernity. You would likely speak English and two dialects of German as well as prefer to read the German Martin Luther Bible and the King James Version instead of other Bible versions like The Living Bible Paraphrased or the Common English Bible.

If you were raised in the Italian town of Saonara, you would have believed in the Trinity and in Papal Infallibility, as well as preferred the Conferenza Episcopale Italiana to any other translation. If you were to visit Jerusalem, you would likely say divine power resides in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, not in the Dome of the Rock.

If you were born near Yoi Island in Seoul, you likely would have become one of the hundreds of thousands of Pentecostal Christians associated with the Yoido Full Gospel Church. You would have firmly believed in Pastor Yonggi Cho's "Fivefold Gospel" and "Threefold Blessing." You would have also believed that Buddhist temples are hosts to Satanic influences.

If you were born among the Sentinelese on an island in the Bay of Bengal, you would have been a hunter-gatherer for life and would know only the god(s) of your ancestors. You would have likely shot an arrow into the heart of one misguided Christian who had forced himself ashore thinking that preaching his version of Jesus to you is more important than violating your right to be left alone and possibly introducing deadly pathogens to your people.

If you were born in Davao City (southern Philippines) to a family that is devoted to Pastor Apollo Quibolloy, you would likely believe that Quibolloy is the present-day Son of God and Davao City is the New Jerusalem. On the other hand, if you were born in my father's village somewhere in the highlands of northern Philippines, you would likely be an Episcopalian who trusts that your Anglican priest rightfully mediates between you and your God.

Again, whatever you believe now may have been largely, if not totally, set by where you were born or where you grew up in. Thrust in a community with a long-established belief system the moment you came out of the womb, you had automatically imbibed its values and outlook and will likely live these out throughout your adult life -- unless something or someone along the way influences you to examine your worldview and shatters your illusion of religious certitude.

But before we discuss this shattering of an illusion, we first need to talk about how one gets caught up in this illusion.

For many people, the entrapment begins with music.