Hey Joe, I appreciate your well-thought-out reply!
A couple quick thoughts:
"There are aspects you speak of here that are not bad or nefarious."
I completely agree with this, and stated right away that the vast majority of the time, people aren't being malicious.
"I stand among a small minority who are Christian libertarians."
I was with you for two years : )
"For instance, we learn the ABCs through repetition and song. They are not objective truth, but it's certainly helpful. We learn to count through repetition. We also learn proverbs, metaphors, idioms, etc. through repetition and sometimes song."
This is only considering one facet of indoctrination. Alone, any of the methods can be innocuous and—like you pointed out—helpful. But we need to look at the symptoms too. Does learning the ABCs make people worship monsters? Does learning to count make someone deny rationality? Do the proverbs make someone less self-aware? If not, it's simply repetition for the purpose of memorization... not indoctrination.
"As noted earlier, we're all indoctrinated. But the burden is discerning the truth and adjusting accordingly."
I agree with this... and I think the first step is identifying indoctrination in our lives so we're able to step outside our biases.
Thanks again for the honest feedback! It definitely contributes to the discussion.
Great response. I often hesitate to even bother to enter this sort of discussion, because of the baggage, anger, divisiveness and lack of charity that can get dumped into it. It's refreshing to have a polite and respectful exchange, even in disagreement. Kudos, and thanks @jakevanderark. IMO, it reveals true character.
These kinds of discussions are SO important... and so few people can have them while remaining civil.
Followed you. I'm sure we'll have more to discuss in the future!