Indoctrination

One of the problems with this thread, as so often in these discussions, is the problem of language, and the indefinite meanings of words.In the O.P., you quote a Muslim member who was, I think, responding to a comment of mine about religious indoctrination. I was using the word in a way that fits definition (2) here:

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American Heritage Dictionary

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in·doc·tri·nate (n-dk'tr-nt') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. in·doc·tri·nat·ed, in·doc·tri·nat·ing, in·doc·tri·nates

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1) To instruct in a body of doctrine or principles.

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2) To imbue with a partisan or ideological point of view.

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Or this, for "indoctrination":

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Word net: indoctrination
noun
teaching someone to accept doctrines uncritically

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But it can just mean this:

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Indoctrination

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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. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,

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Which sounds more like teaching than brainwashing.Dictionary.com gives these synonyms for indoctrinate:

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brainwash, propagandize.

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That's the kind of way I'd like to see the word used here, because as a synonym for "teach", it makes the thread pointless.Later on the thread that you refer to in this O.P., I replied to the Muslim's comment that religious teaching should not be referred to as indoctrination by pointing out that teaching facts about the world's religion and their tenets is not indoctrination, but that teaching kids that any one of those religions is the true faith certainly is indoctrination.Your own description of your religious upbringing certainly involved indoctrination, and it's clear that you've not yet recovered from it.It is religious indoctrination that explains observable phenomena like the fact that most Brazillian kids will describe themselves as Catholic Christians, just as their great-great grandparents would have done as children about 100 years ago, and the majority of Egyptians as Sunni Muslims, just like their ggps, and the majority of Indians as Hindus, just like their ggps, etc.Perhaps you can understand why, honestly, to many non-religious people, the whole phenomenon of religion can look extremely silly.It is not like being taught a tool, like the particular language that one's parents happen to speak. Religious indoctrination involves lots of different people being taught different "truths", none of them evidence based.So, I thought I'd throw a bit of controversy into the thread by describing religious indoctrination as one of the stupidest and most irrational, destructive and dangerous things that large brained apes do.