Friday, March 23, 2012

Parenting Advice from Richard Dawkins

We’re terrified of the word “brainwashed.” 

Yet, I propose to you—if parents had done it properly since the beginning of time—we’d be a far more intellectual people than “free-thinking” has made us…

What does “intellect” mean, apart from what God revealed to our ancestors? What can we know that He hasn’t allowed? How can anyone claim “freedom of thought,” if God sustains our very life, while we grope for answers in the brains we worship in His place?

Perhaps this is why the parenting advice of Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist), irritates some of us:

“Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.”

Indeed, parents… Teach your kids how to think. But, naturally, you shouldn’t teach “how to think” is better than teaching “what to think.” Because, that would be teaching them what to think…
And definitely don’t tell them what to believe because—Dr. Dawkins believes—this is the best belief. 

If your babies reach adulthood and don’t trust a thing you say, pat yourself on the back.  After all, to quote Dawkins again, “The majority of children born into the world tend to inherit the beliefs of their parents, and that to me is one of the most regrettable facts of them all.” 

Except, some of us believe children were meant to inherit the beliefs of their parents, once upon a time, before something threw the system for a loop.

In the beginning, God walked with the first humans. He taught them about right and wrong, and He outlined the rules for enjoying life to the fullest. Thus, you might say the first “intelligent” thing men did was put their faith in the One with the answers…
 
Anyway, during all this intimate contact with mankind, God instructed His people to make sure they didn’t forget what they were learning. He said, to paraphrase, “BRAINWASH YOUR KIDS.”

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deut. 11:18-21)

I’d bet Richard Dawkins thinks this practice is despicable. When parents repeat “their truths” to naïve and impressionable children, it stunts their ability to ask questions for themselves.  Right? Right?

Yet how does he explain this long letter, rife with conclusions and absolute statements, written to help his 10-year-old daughter determine the “correct” kind of belief?   

Here’s my favorite part: “My dearest daughter…. I want to move on from evidence, which is a good reason for believing something, and warn you against three bad reasons for believing anything. They are called ‘tradition’, ‘authority’, and ‘revelation’.”  

I agree with Dawkins that beliefs should have some evidential support. But doesn’t it sound like he’s teaching her what to believe, in that sentence? Is this not indoctrination of the scientific method?  If Dawkins’ message to little Juliet was “disagree with me,” how far will she take it?

Much to the dismay of Dawkins’ generation of scientists, their process of un-educating children has sort of backfired. These little brains have gotten so good as asking questions they won’t even answer them anymore! Dawkins defends his use of absolute statements—saying essentially, there is such thing as “certain enough,” though no science can prove something 100%. He says agnosticism (or, “I don’t know for sure”) doesn’t have to mean a 50/50 toss-up—so he expects people to  lean safely toward one conclusion or another.

But members of the next generation of “free” thinkers don’t always agree.   After years of being told they can solve anything on their own, if they demand evidence, young people have begun to doubt the very brains they use to ask questions.  Suddenly, Dawkins’ religion of Biology ushers young minds into Philosophy, which has a history of praising people for being “intelligent” when they lock themselves indoors for hours or days, trying to solve major problems like, “How can I know that I know that I know?”   

It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? We send our children to college for learning, and their biggest lesson is they can’t learn anything. Then, they hear echoes of Dawkins’ words: tradition, authority, and revelation are bad.  Yet, when they ask for “proof” that skeptical science is good, they find none there, either. Their doubt and further questions lead, eventually, to an “infinite regress” of skepticism, until they conclude—in frustration—there are no answers for anything at all. 

All of this could have been spared if—somewhere during the Enlightenment era, perhaps?—men hadn’t gotten too “smart” for their own good.  If they hadn’t declared—without reason—that things are only true when they study it themselves, the nonsensical, immoral Religion of Thought wouldn’t have grown out of control.  Because intellectuals allowed themselves to be deceived, they gladly surrendered the only certain, God-spoken truths, which had been passed through tradition since time began.
The results are foolish.

“…what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him; but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:20-22)

Science can study many things and produce certain-enough answers. But, it doesn’t answer all the questions of a man’s spirit. Seek God with your whole heart, and don’t let your brain drive you crazy. If you really want to find the Truth, God says you will find Him.  

And when you do PLEASE brainwash your children!  Regardless of what Dawkins says, he indoctrinated his kid, too. The only difference is—rather than the God of the Bible—he sold the impotent gods of Thought and Science…

Theoretically, if Dawkins’ parents had done their job, and their parents had done their job—all the way back to Adam—none of us would be free-thinkers. And it would be fantastic! Satan never would have converted anyone to his Religion of Lies (John 8:44), and all people would remain “brainwashed” by the Creator, who came up with the idea of “true” in the first place…

Unfortunately, no child born into the world has totally inherited the beliefs of their Heavenly Father—which is “the most regrettable fact of them all.”

9 comments:

  1. Out of curiosity, why do you post specifically on skepticism after stating that you have no interest in discussing skepticism anymore? Of course, you have the right to discuss whatever you want, but it just seems odd to me to make this huge deal about how you are done with skepticism for now, and then posting specifically on the topic. (And if you do post without wanting to discuss your post, why post at all?) I am just trying to figure out your reasoning here.

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    1. Fair enough question, Nony. I meant I'm finished traveling down the infinite regression rabbit hole with you. I'll talk about skepticism. I won't participate in it.

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    2. If I am understanding: You will talk about it, unless someone disagrees with you because they are, well, skeptical (or generally have a different outlook on things). I guess I don't understand the point of posting your opinions if you have no interest in actually discussing them. Discussing with people who always agree with you seems pointless to me. I guess it is less pointless if other Christians would debate you, but I don't see that happening on here very often (admittedly, I have not read your entire blog, so that could be occasionally inaccurate). I wonder if the very reason you don't have many Christians debating with you is that some Christians (certainly not all), but particularly Christians you would agree with, are taught not to debate (as you seem to advocate in this very post). I just find all of this to be highly ironic. It also makes me highly curious about your beliefs on submission in marriage, but that is really none of my business.

      Again, I'll reiterate that you have every right to do whatever you want, I'm just curious about the point of your blog.

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    3. Here's the problem with debating non-Bible believers. You ask them something straight-forward, like "should we stop people from sacrificing children?" and you STILL can't get a straight-forward response. When you assume nothing is knowable, you end up tangled in nonsense.

      I've talked about my beliefs regarding marriage before. (http://selfishintoservice.blogspot.com/2011/04/modern-marriage.html) But, again, I hesitate traveling this road if someone wants me to "justify" it. This implies the use a man-made system of measurement...

      Again, I respect the fact that scientists have discovered pieces of truth using this process. So, I have no problem supplying evidences which "speak their language." But, I'm not sure where the line is between showing someone faith-and-reason agree...and hopelessly debating the meaning of "green" with color-blind people.

      God must give us the vision before we can look around.

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    4. What is your reaction to Christians who interpret the Bible differently than you? The reason I asked about submission was that people interpret that specifically Biblical concept in many different ways.

      Also, just for the record, I think the colorblind analogy is flawed, because I do have a sense of faith/belief and I do believe in God. I realize it's not the same as yours, but my point is that I do not use science as the sole basis of my worldview. I also think that analogy is inherently flawed because we can use science to understand why someone is colorblind, and we do understand the properties of color. We do not understand the properties of God.

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    5. If you know a Christian who interprets the biblical submission principle differently than I, you're welcome to send him/her this way and listen while we dialog...

      We understand the properties of God He has revealed in the Bible.

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  2. It drives me crazy how many people disparage my beliefs just because my parents believe the same thing. *Someone's* parents have to be right, right? If everyone is just switching beliefs to the opposite of what their parents believed, then we're not talking about critical thought at all: We're talking about arbitrary acceptance of the opposing view.

    True critical thought makes it possible to take in the opposing view and determine why it doesn't stand up to our current views.

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    1. It just occurs to me that we allow scientists (and other "experts") to determine that facts are king--while allowing THEM to define what makes a good "fact" at the same time...
      Talk about a brainwashing, cult-effect.
      My point, of course, was that ALL of us learned what we know from someone else, stemming back to the first "hand-off" of knowledge from God Himself.

      So, it seems those who assert that the brain is all we need are the ones who *actually* created a religion out of nothing. THEY are the ones responsible to prove their theory is true....and we "religious fools" can keep trusting the Author of that term.

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  3. We are doing everything we can to give our son the foundation and understanding he needs to succeed in his faith and life. I've been reading a great new book by Dr. Tony Evans. One of the goals of the book is to help parents grow in confidence as they discover their worth as a parent based on God's Word. He says just what you are saying, "Instructing your children in the Lord means spending time with them so they can see how you live out the gospel." It’s called "Raising Kingdom Kids: Giving Your Child a Living Faith." He says, "It's far easier to SHAPE A CHILD than to REPAIR AN ADULT. Raising kids who recognize and retain their identity as children of the King launches healthy adults who have the capacity to stand strong in their faith." Equipping and guiding our children starts with us, parents! This is the most solid, thorough, inspirational and affirming parent book I've ever read! I love it and HIGHLY recommend it for all parents! www.raisingkingdomkids.com

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