How is This Not Indoctrination?
The irony in Christian nationalists crying about indoctrination of our children is endlessly frustrating. Let me start by saying I fully support the ability for individuals to practice their religion, no matter what that religion may be. Religion itself isn't a problem, but the imposition of it on others and the subsequent weaponization of religious doctrines and "morals" is a disturbing phenomenon in society.
No matter how much Christians boo-hoo about the (alleged) separation of church and state, Christianity has a white-knuckle grip on society in the US. They impose their rules on our legislation and judicial review. Churches dabble every street corner of every small town. Businesses take on church-like themes, scrawling crosses and bible verses on to-go coffee cups.
We're looking at daycares and you can't find a good quality daycare in our area that doesn't incorporate Christianity into its curriculum. I expected to deal with indoctrination when our kid reaches school-age. Christopher Columbus wasn't a good guy and didn't discover America, gender norms don't matter, etc. etc. But I didn't expect to deal with it as early as 6 weeks old when they go to their first daycare.
The highest quality facility we toured recently had Christian music playing in the infant room. That's whatever. I don't care what music you play, how much is it really going to influence my kid? But teaching bible verses to young children? Working Christianity into their developmental curriculum as early as possible is indoctrination. When you tell a child, two-years-old or younger, that Jesus is the way, they don't know to take what you say with a grain of salt. You're the all-knowing adult. They trust you. They don't understand that religion is a set of beliefs and that it's okay if they choose to believe otherwise. They don't know what "otherwise" might entail. They don't even know what the word belief means.
When I read this daycare's handbook, it said that children may not infringe on the rights of other children. Which, on the surface, is ideal. But what are we talking about, specifically? The freedom of religion? What about my kid's freedom from religion? It's not like I can just choose a different daycare—all of the daycares in our area incorporate religion into their curriculums. Is my kid free from the imposition of others' religion if I have to keep them at home in order to prevent the forced indoctrination into the Christian faith? That's not even an option at this point in time because we're not economically free enough to make that choice. So tell me how Christians are so persecuted while they force their beliefs onto the next generations and everywhere else.
If my kid decides to be a Christian, I'll support that. But I want it to be because they understand the idea of a higher power and feel called to that specific representation of such a power. That's not going to happen at age 2. So, what I'll be tasked with as a parent is to offset the indoctrination they experience while I'm at work in a way that won't cause them to go to school and "infringe" on the practice of religion there.
So to be frank, I don't want to hear about how harmful it is for kids to be indoctrinated into leftist ideologies. I'll be combating the indoctrination of my child into Christianity before they can comprehend it from the moment I go back to work.