The Faithful Lie We Tell Our Children
If it needs to be installed before reasoning arrives, it’s not faith—it’s programming.
No child is born religious. That’s what indoctrination is for.
Children don’t come into the world believing in sin, divine judgment, or the need for salvation.
They come into the world believing in what you tell them.
What their parents say. What their community insists is true.
And when those messages are wrapped in fear and eternity, they stick.
We romanticize childhood faith because we see children repeating prayers, memorizing verses, reciting creeds.
We say, “Look at their innocence. Their purity. Their belief.”
But belief without the option of not believing is not belief.
It’s programming.
It’s not a conclusion—they didn’t reach it. It was given to them before they had the tools to evaluate it.
Faith, when taught before critical thinking develops, is not a choice. It’s an installation.
And that’s not a bug of the system.
It’s the feature.
Religions don’t wait until kids can analyze the metaphysics of eternal punishment or wrestle with the paradox of omniscience and free will.
They move early—because once a child learns to reason, the illusion begins to crack.
It’s not a coincidence that almost every major religion has a pipeline for kids:
Sunday school. Youth group. Bible camp.
Rituals and recitations and rehearsals.
Not to foster freedom of thought—but to get there first.
To carve the grooves deep enough that any future question feels like betrayal.
Because indoctrination doesn’t just teach what to think—
It teaches what to fear.
Before a child can grasp the scientific method, they’re told the Earth is 6,000 years old.
Before they can explore moral philosophy, they’re told goodness means obedience.
Before they can compare religions, they’re warned that questioning their own is dangerous.
We say they “found faith,”
But in most cases, faith found them first.
Found them young.
Found them trusting.
And installed the answers before they ever knew what the questions were.
This is where the deeper damage begins
Not just in misinformation—but in the framework itself. That’s because…