Atheists often critique the idea of indoctrinating children into religion at a young age, but this raises the question of whether this is a minimum age at which religion needs to be instilled into children for it to really "take hold" and stick. Is there such an age, or can religious indoctrination be successful at any age (at least in theory, if perhaps not with every particular person)?
A forum member writes:
I have been wondering lately if there is a critical/maximum age for religious indoctrination. Let's say a person grows up in a religion-free society (not necessarily an atheist society, but god just never comes up), and then at the age of 12 or so, someone tries to teach this child about an omnipotent and omniscient being and the rules that this being wants obeyed. Would anyone be willing to all of a sudden believe in this?
This only occurred to me because I remember seeing a documentary in my high school psychology class some years back about a boy who was found living among the animals (very Jungle book), and he was taken back into human society at the age of 11. He didn't speak any language at the time. They tried to teach him (I think it was English), but he never learned more than a few dozen words, and didn't even come close to mastering the language and being able to speak it freely. The point was that a first language has to be learned before some critical age (11-13) or not at all.
So, I'm wondering if there is something similar when it comes to religion. I grew up in a communist (atheist) state, but moved to the West with my family at the age of 12. At this point, I underwent my first religious indoctrination and it didn't take. However, my younger brother, who was only 7, did come to believe in god. It may not be anything as simple as just age, but perhaps it's a contributing factor.
What do you think about the idea that there might be a "critical age" at which people need to learn certain religious beliefs, after which nothing will really work? It seems like it might be possible -- but only if there is some general category of thinking called "religious," such that if you learn anything "religious" when you are young, then you may be able to switch to a different mode of "religious" thought later on. Otherwise, how would people be able to radically switch religions when they are adults?
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