| ArnoldRimmer said: That chart seems to be taken from this report/survey: http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/ So it's just for the US. And as I said, it's well known that religious affiliation is falling in almost all rich western countries. That report itself states: "Societies where people’s daily lives are shaped by the threat of poverty, disease and premature death remain as religious today as centuries earlier. These same societies are also experiencing rapid population growth. In rich nations, by contrast, the evidence demonstrates that secularization has been proceeding since at least the mid-twentieth century (and probably earlier) – but at the same time fertility rates have fallen sharply, so that in recent years population growth has stagnated and their total population is starting to shrink. The result of these combined trends is that rich societies are becoming more secular but the world as a whole is becoming more religious."
Sure, indoctrination has negative effects. But the amount of indoctrination varies greatly among various religions/sects. And it's almost impossible to avoid indoctrination altogether - children for example are just as well being indoctrinated in school, where they are usually expected to squeeze certain "truths" into their brains that should not be doubted. The semantic differences between "indoctrination", "socialization" and "education" are rather small. |
My concern really isn't with the poor nations. They need to focus on building their infrastructure to better the lives of the citizens rather than worry about what its citizens use to cope with being impoverished. In time, these nations will overcome impoverishment (hopefully) and at that point the numbers will be more reflective of the wealthier nations.
I've never been in a single institution that forbids you from questioning the subject matter. Every single one I've ever attended encouraged questions. Then again, I never attended any religious schools so perhaps it's different there.
Wiki cites indoctrination as:
Indoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a professional methodology (see doctrine).[1] It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned.
This is a fair assessment I suppose. While there is some overlap between indoctrination and education, it's very slim in that certain axioms persist and are necessary to build upon for a foundation on the side of education; whereas indoctrination is essentially "hey kids, this book is the word of god!"
