My church had the same pastor from the time that I was about thirteen to the time I was about nineteen. Having bigger things than religion and atheism to worry about as a teenager, I didn’t realize it at the time, but this man really passionately believed and taught the opposite of everything I believe. He is the type that refers to atheists as if they are a group only to be fought with and not a group to make amends with; the type that believes that gay people have no place in church and that to be transgender is to be mentally ill; the type who shares a lot of Matt Walsh posts on Facebook. You know the type. Unfortunately.
I wish that I had documented what he said as well as I am documenting what my church’s current leaders say in sermons and in bible classes. I remember him always talking about the sin of homosexuality, and I know that he was very into apologetics and creationism. Oftentimes in bible class, he would talk about what to say “if you get into an argument with an atheist” about one thing or another. There was always something to argue about or be political about with him. And atheists were some sort of ideological competitors who must be outsmarted and defeated, never someone to meet, include, or befriend.
One of the only sermons of his that I do clearly remember was when I was quite young; to be honest, I’m not completely sure that it was his sermon or the pastor before him. Either way, the message was this: you should be thankful to whomever introduced you to the good news of Jesus, because it is due to them and their witness to you that you now have been saved and will have eternal life.
I found this intriguing for multiple reasons. Firstly, what about those who had never been lucky enough to have been told about Jesus? Are they just doomed to hell? Children that had been brought up Muslim or Jewish or Hindu don’t get all the great rewards that are supposed to come with Christianity just because that’s not what their parents told them about? That seems less than fair to those who didn’t even get a chance. And it’s an awfully big burden to put on Christians who are responsible for converting the whole entire world and revealing a God who refuses to reveal himself.
To this end, if Christianity is true, then why do we need to be told about it? Many Christians say that God speaks to them or Jesus reveals himself to them or they see God in the everyday and in the ordinary. If this is true, then why would we need to be told about him? Wouldn’t we just know? I once read a quote that said if civilization was wiped out and had to start over completely, we would again gather all our knowledge of science, but our religions would be lost forever. This is because science is discoverable, and religion only survives on being passed down through the generations through stories and forced church services and family prayers. It thrives on the indoctrination of children.
Just because someone gets indoctrinated into the Christian faith as a child doesn’t mean that they will remain a Christian in adulthood. Heck, even if someone is indoctrinated throughout their childhood, young adulthood, and during college, and they keep up a Christian façade through all of it, that doesn’t mean that they are a Christian. I serve as my own example of an instance in which indoctrination failed. There is hope for anyone to break free from the chains of religious indoctrination as long as they rely on themselves and use critical thinking and logic, even when the world is telling them not to.