One of the things that my co-host Jason and I had to come to an agreement on in episode 13 before we could have a productive conversation about indoctrination was what was meant by the word itself. As it turns out, any dictionary will give you some form of what is clearly expressed in the Merriam-Webster definition of indoctrinate: “to teach (someone) to fully accept the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of a particular group and to not consider other ideas, opinions, and beliefs.” Most other dictionaries have similar definitions. For example, Dictionary.com defines indoctrinate this way: “to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., especially to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.” The feedback I’ve … [Read more...]
Podcast #14: Indoctrination Redux, Indiscriminate Profanity, and the Sport of Soccer
In this episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors, Jason and Christian decide their friendship wasn't tested enough during the previous episode's debate about indoctrination and go for round two. Jason admits that he is wrong, but this sentence is totally out of context. Christian informs Jason about some negative feedback from a non-drunk current pastor, and they also lament the fact that only 23 people like the podcast. Christian is asked by a listener what led him to become an Agnostic, and in fine Agnostic fashion talks about what didn't push him into it instead of what did. Jason can’t figure out which of his many biebers to discuss and finally lands on one that gives him an excuse to say the “f-word” over and over again. Christian is biebered by … [Read more...]
Responsible Parental Instruction or Religious Indoctrination?
OK, so I assume most of you have listened to episode #13 by now (and scroll down if you haven't, then skip ahead to the 36-minute mark for the relevant portion of the discussion). As you will remember, Christian and I debated the issue of indoctrination (a discussion which stemmed from some great listener feedback we received at 213-97-DRUNK). We mostly focused on whether indoctrination is evil by definition, and whether it is something that religious people do exclusively. My goal here is to set forth the questions to which I have yet to hear a satisfactory answer. What is the difference, in principle, between a religious home teaching their children religious ideas (like Jesus rose again) on the one hand, and a secular home teaching … [Read more...]
Podcast #13: Repeat After Me. Indoctrination. Indoctrination. Indoctrination.
In this episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors, Jason and Christian celebrate the podcast’s 13th episode with a shot of chocolate cake, followed up with a recap of Christian’s trip to Hollywood and Jason’s week getting to know his co-workers: Bow Tie, Old Spice, Senator, et al. After a momentary lapse into what is possibly a quite sexist discussion and a post-mortem analysis of Christian’s inexplicable loss in the “Best Name” category for his chili, Jason and Christian take on a caller question about indoctrination, which leads to a heated discussion over what constitutes indoctrination and whether or not religious people are guiltier of it than non-religious people. After making up, Christian is biebered by redundancy and Christian is biebered by … [Read more...]