Today’s Youth: Waking Up.

I try to steer clear of AiG’s website, I really do, but often I still find myself chuckling (or fuming) over some more of Ken Ham’s delightful pearls of wisdom. Unfortunately, and more often than not, I’ll also stumble across some blithering “article” or another posted by some Christian journalist lamenting their worry with the “way things are” in today’s “secular” world. While perusing this shrine to ignorance, I came across one such “article” and felt most compelled to examine its message. It’s a relatively typical example of the Christian people waxing nostalgic about a time when children grew up entrenched in the faith, no one thought for themselves, and people were content to live their lives cowering in fear of a petulant child-god.

But, the times they are a-changin’ and Shiela Richardson, for one, finds this most upsetting. She reaches out in her article entitled “Today’s Youth: Walking Away from Truth” featured on AiG’s website, but also featured in their magazine: Answers, to explain why the youth in America is straying so far from her god. I’d like to take a small detour, just here, to point out the audacity of naming one’s magazine “Answers,” as if you have some right to claim that you have “Answers” that are even marginally worth listening to. But, I digress.

Sheila has a grave concern for the youth of our nation. Why? Because, they are straying from God, she says. But, who is to blame? Whose fault could it be that these children are maturing into adults who live such sinful lives? Before addressing the heart of this matter, Sheila tells us a little story meant to horrify her Christian readers, then she will soothe the nerves by offering, first the broader problem, then the solution.

A leader in his youth group, Andrew faithfully attended Sunday school every week. He was awarded a scholarship at a well-known university, but by the end of his first year in college, Andrew had renounced his faith.

Sadly, Andrew’s heartbreaking story is not unique. It is repeated in thousands of Christian homes every year.

Note the use of the word “heartbreaking.” Now, to the discerning reader, this would seem less heartbreaking and more practical. Of course it is perfectly sensible that a young person should go to college to expand his or her mind and come away with a wholly different view of life and its intricacies than their parents had set out for them as children. This would seem like the next logical step in intellectual growth. Unless, of course, you are Shiela Richardson, or those like her. Sheila thinks this expansion of thought and ability to harness the power of critical thinking is “heartbreaking,” and I’m sure most of her faith-drunk readers do, as well.

In this medium, Shiela is taking on the role of “pastor” or “guide.” Because Sheila is the journalist behind this article, her readers regard her as some sort of expert on the matter, surely nodding their heads enthusiastically with her assessment of how “heartbreaking” Andrew’s exposure to secular education had been. Her entire first paragraph is a typical example of the Christian need to introduce fear into their teachings. Without fear, Christianity would be an entirely different animal, if an animal at all.

Sheila cleverly starts us out with the tale of Andrew, and is sure to tell us that:

He was awarded a scholarship at a well-known university, but by the end of his first year in college, Andrew had renounced his faith.

And what does that seemingly benign little statement suggest? Clearly, education is the enemy! That is, unless it is Christian education. Otherwise, it is “wordly” and “secular” and is systematically being wielded as a tool of destruction by non-believers! So, we’re barely a paragraph into this nonsense, and already Sheila is releasing the hounds on “secular” (read: higher) education. Already, she is using fear as an instrument to essentially freak parents out who may have college-aged or soon-to-be college-aged children. Watch out for “secular” universities, Christian parents! They’ll have your children renouncing their faith!

WHERE HAVE WE GONE WRONG?

Ah, so we’ve reached the diagnosis stages. Sheila will now attempt to tell “us” precisely what it is “we” have done wrong, because clearly it is “our” faults. You see, Christian parents, were you doing your jobs the way Sheila Richardson thinks you should, this wouldn’t be happening. Andrew wouldn’t be a free-thinking Atheist bastard wearing his tye-dye gay pride shirts and smoking Clove cigarettes while he reads Thus Spoke Zarathustra. No, he would be sitting at rapt attention in the first row of the church, eagerly taking notes about the miracles of Christ’s love. And making sure to hate gay people as hard as he could.

So, what went wrong, she asks? You parents didn’t teach your children to “think Biblically.” Duh.

Basically, we have failed to teach our children to think biblically. In order to survive as believers in our culture, we must all recognize that God rules and speaks about every area of life (e.g., science, philosophy, ethics, history, government, sociology, and education), and not merely about an isolated area designated “religion.”

Right, of course! So, basically, Sheila is a fan of indoctrination. Well, except that it sounds much prettier if she calls it “teaching our children to think biblically.” But, it’s basically the same thing. In fact, and I shit you not, Sheila even goes so far as to say:

After 30 hours in government schools and another 30 hours in front of the TV each week, young people receive only about one hour per week of “reprogramming” at church (most parents leave the “spiritual” training to the church).

[Emphasis mine.]

Reprogramming. Really, Sheila? I have to wonder if Sheila Richardson is new to the field of journalism, or if being a Christian journalist and having absolutely nothing worthwhile to write about merely makes one lackadaisical. It seems to me that the sharp journalist would refrain from using terms like “reprogram” in reference to their own religion. But, for that gaping faux pas, I think you, Sheila. You’ve made my deconstruction of your article far easier by making a point for me.

But, Sheila didn’t mean to point out the need for indoctrination in Christian children in such a less-than-subtle manner. What she meant to do was point out the clear indoctrination children receive in the public education system! How dare those cretins teach science to our impressionable children! And further, how dare they teach children to think! Or use reasoning skills!

While the church teaches about Jesus and salvation, the education system has indoctrinated students to doubt the underlying credibility of the Bible.

Hmm, yes. The underlying credibility of the Bible. You must be awfully limber to be able to stretch all that way, Sheila. The “article” goes on to tell us that churches and parents are not inundating their children with enough god-fables to keep them from realizing what an errant fraud this all is once they’re able to use their reasoning skills. In fact, the drabble after this seems very much as if Sheila wants parents to keep those nasty reasoning skills as far away from their children as possible.

She speaks gravely about children’s detachment from the faith, but says that they will likely continue to participate in youth group activities:

However, [they] will probably continue to participate during [their] teen years because of the “herd mentality” and social activities of most youth groups.

Oh, I love it. “Herd mentality” is precisely what draws the Christian faith together, Sheila! What’s amusing is your ability to detect it in the youth groups (talk about nauseating – ever seen Saved?) but not within your own subset. Herd mentality is the driving force behind the divisiveness of the Christian religion. The irony here is almost too much. But, of course, Sheila means “herd mentality” in a secular way. She’s ignoring the fact that her faith is largely dependent upon it. Instead, the term is being used to demonstrate the way that young people behave, and how their stray from god is entirely dependent upon the secular teachings of the world around them and their own need to follow the herd mentality.

So, Sheila Richardson. Now that your audience is brimming with trepidation at the prospect of sending their children to a secular university and wracked with guilt over their own failures to instill unwavering Christian devotion in them, what is your solution?

TEACH DOCTRINE TO CHILDREN

Now we come to the core of Sheila’s diatribe. The meat, if you will, of our holy Christian sandwich. What do we do to undermine the many evils of critical thinking, Sheila? This section has a list, neat and tidy, detailing the various ways to teach doctrine to children. Her first principle starts out with the often heard and unbelievably arrogant claim that the Bible has the answers to life’s toughest questions: “How did the world get here?” “Who am I?” and so forth. Apparently, Sheila is already working to indoctrinate children in the ways of her faith.

This is one reason that I wrote the It All Begins with Genesis program for middle school. But training needs to begin earlier. For example, with AiG’s Answers for Kids series, you can begin teaching early elementary students the biblical view of history and how to answer many of the questions they face in school.

Be sure to catch them as early as possible, Christian parents. After all, if you allow your children to think for themselves instead of telling them what to think, they might end up like that liberal commie gay-hugging bastard Andrew. Begin the brainwashing process as early as you can! If I were to present this type of thinking in the context of, say, Scientology, it would be laughable. Somehow, to Christians, it’s serious business.

It’s really Principle 4 that I quite literally lol’d at:

Employ Critical Thinking Skills.

The curriculum should examine everything in the light of biblical truth.

For instance, don’t just tell students they must believe the earth is young; rather, help them see it from the text of Scripture. It helps young people to learn what popular thinking says about the earth and then to work through the contrasting biblical and theological truths revealed in Scripture. In the process, they will also learn scientific evidence that confirms these truths.

Our secular school system indoctrinates with memorized “facts” and discourages logical questioning. Students who are never taught to question will fall prey to professors who teach unbiblical views. The curriculum should have time for group discussion and allow the freedom to question.

Where to begin? I’m sure “employ critical thinking skills” is the absolute last heading you would expect to see in an article on AiG’s website. And yet, here it sits – mocking me! Employ critical thinking skills? This is precisely what you are working against, Sheila Richardson. We’ll not share in your delusions. She attempts to make this work by saying that parents should not just tell children that the Earth is young, but demonstrate the truth of this throughout the Bible. Teach them how the science confirms these “facts.” This is not critical thinking, Sheila. This is presupposed conclusions molesting scientific fact, or just making stuff up (see: Ken Ham’s floating isles of vegetation), to further their argument.

Critical thinking in this situation would call for the child in question to say, “But, Mom, why should I believe this book? There’s nothing to prove its truth.” Not, “Oh! Now I can see science from a biblical perspective!” That isn’t critical thinking, that is limiting comprehension skills and crippling a child’s mind to forever rationalize everything through the funnel of god’s existence and the Bible. Thereby causing your child to appear mentally deficient.

Sheila goes on to ramble about the importance of indoctrination in children through family teachings, etc. And, no doubt, there are parents on AiG’s website this very moment – humble housewives taking a break from their soaps to enjoy some quality time with Ken Ham and his Amazing Fundamentalist Circus Assistants. People will take something away from this. People trapped in the small mindset of Christianity will see great sense and wisdom in Sheila Richardson’s crusade for Christian indoctrination in children. People will champion this article to friends as a way to parent their children.

And more of this madness will breed. This is a very dangerous game to play. Limiting your mind to fit the tiny scope of understanding that Christianity affords us is a particular shame. But, people like Sheila Richardson don’t see it that way, and they never will. People like Sheila Richardson will defend their ludicrous belief to the death, and will take nothing away from criticisms of its absurdity but a sense of strength, because they can withstand the “persecution” they face as a result of their great faith.

Frankly, I find the statistics quoted in Sheila’s article the most interesting and encouraging part.

Of those polled, 86% had begun to question the Bible by their high school years. Of those who said they did not believe all the accounts in the Bible are true, 82% cited doubts about the Bible’s authority or its trustworthiness.

I like those statistics. Keep up the free-thinking, youth! Don’t let Sheila Richardson’s backwards teachings keep you from expanding your minds.