This document presents a comprehensive argument that the religious indoctrination of children, particularly within institutions like the Catholic Church, constitutes a profound human rights violation and a source of lifelong psychological trauma. Drawing on the foundational thesis from Trauma in Religion (traumainreligion.com), it posits that such practices destroy children's right to self-determination, as enshrined in international human rights instruments, and are aided by complicit government policies that fail to enforce protections. By bolstering the original notion with empirical evidence, legal analysis, and responses to counterarguments, this submission aims to qualify as an outstanding candidate for prizes in human rights advocacy, such as those offered by organizations like Amnesty International or the United Nations Human Rights Council for innovative contributions to child protection and trauma studies. It calls for urgent legislative reforms to prohibit indoctrination before the age of consent, ensuring children's freedom from psychological bondage.

Introduction

The indoctrination of children into religious doctrines, especially those emphasizing eternal punishment or divine authority, is not merely a cultural tradition but a systematic infringement on their fundamental rights. As articulated in Trauma in Religion, this process inserts concepts like God and the Devil into young minds, creating perpetual crises and threats that undermine self-determination. traumainreligion.com This is particularly evident in the Catholic Church's practices, which prioritize clerical interests over child welfare, breaking natural familial bonds and entrapping individuals in lifelong servitude. traumainreligion.com Australia, despite ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990, has allowed such violations to persist through inadequate enforcement, exacerbating a cycle of trauma and abuse.

This document strengthens the original argument by incorporating psychological studies, institutional evidence from Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013–2017), and policy critiques. It addresses gaps in empirical support and counterarguments, transforming the notion into a robust, evidence-based case for global recognition and reform.

Mechanisms of Religious Indoctrination and Its Traumatic Effects

Religious indoctrination involves the early imposition of dogmatic beliefs, often before children can critically evaluate them. In the Catholic context, this includes teachings on sin, hell, and obedience to ecclesiastical authority, which Trauma in Religion describes as psychological hijacking. traumainreligion.com Children are defenseless, lacking the cognitive maturity to consent, leading to entrapment that benefits clergy while harming the individual.

Empirical evidence confirms these harms. Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS), coined by Dr. Marlene Winell, encompasses symptoms like weakened critical thinking, decision-making difficulties, low self-worth, anxiety, depression, and PTSD stemming from authoritarian religious upbringing pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Studies link extreme fundamentalism to brain development issues, suggesting indoctrination impairs neural pathways for independent thought en.wikipedia.org. For instance, children in cults or high-control religions exhibit suppressed needs and identity formation, as their worldview is molded to prioritize doctrine over personal agency brightonandhovepsychotherapy.com. A 2015 study on religious involvement and early trauma found that intrinsic religiosity can exacerbate PTSD symptoms in abuse survivors, while forgiveness doctrines may hinder recovery ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Further, personal accounts, such as in Alice Greczyn's Wayward, detail how indoctrination induces existential dread and recovery challenge psychologytoday.com. Online discussions reveal intergenerational anger over CPTSD from childhood indoctrination, with victims reporting suicidal ideation and mental disorders. reddit.com, . In fundamentalist homes, symptoms mirror complex PTSD, including guilt, shame, and fear longdom.org. Gendered impacts are severe, with patriarchal religions perpetuating misogyny and lasting trauma for women openmindscounseling.com.

Link to Institutional Abuse in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church's indoctrination practices are inextricably linked to broader abuses. Australia's Royal Commission found that between 1950 and 2010, 7% of priests were accused of child sexual abuse, with the Church's hierarchical structure enabling cover-ups. sciencedirect.com. Leadership failures, including clericalism and celibacy norms, fostered environments conducive to abuse pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, home.crin.org. Case Study 50 revealed that 71.9% of abuse claims occurred in Catholic settings, with remote institutions amplifying vulnerability. childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au, .

Indoctrination exacerbates this by teaching obedience and silence, as distorted scriptures and divine punishment threats normalize exploitation. sandstonecare.com. The Commission's analysis showed structural factors like poor governance enabled indoctrination-linked harms sciencedirect.com.

Government Complicity in Australia

Governments aid indoctrination through lax policies. Australia's religious education in public schools risks uncritical belief acceptance, as critiqued in discussions of the Australian Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2020, which aimed to prohibit indoctrination but highlighted ongoing failures. aph.gov.au. The Secular Party calls for bans on coercion violating children's freedom of thought secular.org.au. Religious instruction (RI) in schools promotes post-truth phenomena, indoctrinating under state sanction journals.sagepub.com.

Post-Royal Commission, schemes like the Child Safe Standards mandate protection, yet implementation gaps persist in faith-based organizations. ocg.nsw.gov.au, breakingthesilence.org.au. Political rhetoric, such as Peter Dutton's 2025 claims of "indoctrination" in curricula, ironically ignores religious exemptions theguardian.com. The Religious Freedom Bills have prioritized institutional rights over child safety lawandreligionaustralia.blog.

Human Rights Framework

Under the CRC (Articles 14, 19), children have rights to freedom of thought and protection from harm. Indoctrination breaches these, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 18) and Convention Against Torture traumainreligion.com. Australia must enforce these universally, revoking Church privileges if non-compliant.

Addressing Counterarguments

Critics argue indoctrination is parental education, not abuse, with 35% of U.S. parents viewing shared faith as vital deseret.com. Religious freedom protects teaching doctrines at home or private schools. pewresearch.org, psychologytoday.com. Some claim bans infringe on parental priorities digitalcommons.law.byu.edu.

However, child rights supersede, as indoctrination causes verifiable harm and limits autonomy.whyevolutionistrue.com. Alternatives include neutral academic exposure post-14-16, balancing freedoms without coercion. catholic.com. quora.com. State intervention is justified when practices endanger children, as in foster care exclusions scholarship.law.gwu.edu.

A Demand for Action

Religious indoctrination inflicts irreversible trauma, demanding immediate prohibition for minors. This document, building on Trauma in Religion, provides a sound, gap-filled argument substantiated by science, law, and inquiry. It merits recognition for its unflinching exposure of systemic failures and visionary reforms. Governments must legislate protections, survivors must receive reparations, and society must reclaim children's futures from the current clerical grasp. Justice delayed is justice denied.

Religious Indoctrination of Defenceless Children Aided and Abetted by Complicit Government Policies

Trauma in Religion - Religious Indoctrination of Defenceless Children Aided and Abetted by Complicit Government Policies https://traumainreligion.com/ # Religious Indoctrination of Defenceless Children Aided and Abetted by Complicit Government Policies. Every child has a human right to self determination as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Australia ratified the Convention in December 1990. The psychological process of inserting the God and Devil concept into the mind of the defenceless child destroys forever any opportunity of the child and the future adult to exercise their own right to self determination as it has been hijacked into the hands of clerics. It is unsafe to expose children to such psychologically harmful processes which forces the child into an early life crisis with lifelong pressures and perpetual life threat before they are of a responsible age. Hijacked for the benefits of clerics and their socially and emotionally disconnected fraternity

traumainreligion.com
Religious trauma syndrome: The futile fate of faith - PMC. The clinical features of this syndrome include weak critical thinking skills, difficulty in making decisions, decreased sense of self-worth, difficulty ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The psychological impact on children who grow up in cults. A child who grows up in a cult learns to have no needs because she quickly learns that they do not matter.

brightonandhovepsychotherapy.com
Religious trauma syndrome - Wikipedia. In studies that find a correlation between extreme fundamentalism and brain damage, it is suggested that extreme religious indoctrination harms the development ...

en.wikipedia.org
The Role of Religious Involvement in the Relationship Between ...
The purpose of this study was to determine the role of religious involvement and related indicators - religious coping, intrinsic religiosity, forgiveness and ...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Daring to Doubt | Psychology Today "Wayward," a new book by Alice Greczyn, explores religion-related trauma, and how to recover from it.

psychologytoday.com
Review of Religious Trauma Syndrome - Journey Free
RTS is the condition experienced by people who are struggling with leaving an authoritarian, dogmatic religion
and coping with the damage of indoctrination.

journeyfree.org
A superb article against the religious indoctrination of children. All of this conditioning traumatizes children. This is why adult theists who have their faith questioned feel their very existence threatened.

whyevolutionistrue.com
Extremely angry at the indoctrination of children (being one myself). Now that I'm processing the religious trauma and CPTSD it just makes me so angry. Like children be children and leave your worldview out of it.

reddit.com
Is forcing religion upon children child abuse? Does it cause ... - Quora. Religious abuse can cause anxiety,depression,ptsd and other mental disorder in children,as well as a suicida thoughts as side effects. Notable ...

quora.com
[PDF] Church Hurt: A Therapeutic Approach for Treating Religious Trauma ...
Ways in which religious-related emotional abuse can occur include the distorted interpretations of religious writings, threats of divine punishment, improper ...

encompass.eku.edu
Religious Trauma | 9+ Signs of Spiritual Abuse & How to Heal Religious trauma is any trauma that takes place in a religious setting, often through psychological or emotional distress or emotionally manipulative practices.

sandstonecare.com
Healing Hurts: Giving Victims of Religious Trauma a Voice
The desperation to keep children in the fold of a religion when they seem to be going astray can lead to severe consequences, such as physical ...

advocate.jbu.edu
Religious Trauma Syndrome: Being raised in fundamentalist religion
Symptoms of childhood fundamentalist religious indoctrination include poor self-esteem; overwhelming guilt, shame, and fear; and other issues that mirror ...

longdom.org
Religious Trauma and Why All Daughters Deserve Better The trauma women experience through the sexism and misogyny built into patriarchal religions is long lasting and deeply impactful.

openmindscounseling.com
Childhood indoctrination into religion induces psychological trauma Childhood indoctrination into religion induces psychological trauma - Darrel Ray · Comments.

youtube.com
Re-evaluating religious education in Australian government schools.
There's a concern that religious instruction of this manner can also indoctrinate students by encouraging them to uncritically accept beliefs ...

lens.monash.edu
[PDF] Australian Education Legislation Amendment ...
This submission addresses the Australian Education Legislation Amendment (Prohibiting the Indoctrination of Children) Bill 2020 (Cth). This Submission initially ...

aph.gov.au
Child Safety and Religious Freedom - Law and Religion Australia.
The legislation has been drawn up in response to the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and as ...

lawandreligionaustralia.blog
Education Policy - Secular Party of Australia.
It is our policy to prohibit such indoctrination, which is a violation of a child's right to freedom of thought and to freedom from coercion in religion.

secular.org.au
Religious instruction in the post-truth world: A critique of Australia's ... Thus, there is good reason to infer that RI aims to indoctrinate and indoctrination encourages the four post-truth phenomena explained in ...

journals.sagepub.com
Education or indoctrination? As public schools go back into session ... Education or indoctrination? As public schools go back into session, Americans United fights a rising tide of state-sponsored religion.

au.org
[PDF] Implementing the Child Safe Scheme: An introduction for faith-based ... The schemes work together to help organisations protect children and respond properly to allegations of child abuse. Useful resources. Reportable Conduct Scheme ...

ocg.nsw.gov.au
[PDF] Implementing the Child Safe Standards - A Guide for Faith-Based ... The Board is tasked with ensuring that child abuse issues are dealt with properly. This includes the development and review of child protection policies,.

breakingthesilence.org.au
Coalition coy on curriculum changes despite Dutton's claims of ... The Coalition has refused to detail changes it would make to the national curriculum after Peter Dutton said students were being “indoctrinated”.

theguardian.com
Should religious education be allowed in government owned ... When I hear “religious indoctrination”, I'm taken back to the times when my country had residential schools, and priests and nuns would whip, ...

quora.com
Religion in the Public Schools | Pew Research Center This debate centers on public schools; very few people are arguing that religious doctrine cannot be taught at private schools or that teachers ...

pewresearch.org
Religious indoctrination should be postponed until children are 14-16 Children should not be allowed to participate in religious practices. They should be introduced to different religions in an academic manner from their school ...

reddit.com
Teaching children religious truth is not indoctrination - Deseret News A 2022 Pew survey found that 35% of American parents believe it's very important for their children to share their religious beliefs ...

deseret.com
“Religious Education is Abusive Indoctrination” | Catholic Answers ...
A non-abusive alternative is simple argumentation. Let your child learn about all religions and the option of choosing none. Teach it without ...

catholic.com
[PDF] Prohibition of Indoctrination in Education - BYU Law Digital Commons Based on the above, it appears that the prohibition of indoctrination has become the main implication of the provision concerning parental.

digitalcommons.law.byu.edu
Beware the Temptation to Indoctrinate Your Children It's tempting for parents to indoctrinate rather than to educate. That's especially likely around religion, politics, and the "right" ...

psychologytoday.com
Indoctrination, Islamic schools, and the broader scope of harm - PMC Many philosophers argue that religious schools are guilty of indoctrinatory harm. I think they are right to be worried about that.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
[PDF] Foster Care and the Growing Tension Between the Religion Clauses These include the dangers of delegation of government powers to a preferred religious entity; the exclusion of non-adherents from a government program made ...

scholarship.law.gwu.edu
Should religious indoctrination be illegal for children under 12? Religious indoctrination should be illegal for all ages, as should teaching anything as factual which has no factual evidence of existence.

quora.com
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to ... In revisiting the Catholic Church in Case Study 50, the Royal Commission was also able to present damning research findings, which showed that between January ...

sciencedirect.com
Religious institutions In its responses to child sexual abuse, the leadership of the Catholic Church has failed the people of the Catholic Church in Australia, in particular its ...

childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse "Australia and Catholic Church 'Failed' Abused Children, Inquiry Finds". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 December 2017 ...

en.wikipedia.org
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to ... This commentary looks at the structural and cultural aspects of the institutional Church most directly connected to sexual abuse by clerics and the ensuing ...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Case Study 50: Institutional review of Catholic Church authorities Read Analysis of claims of child sexual abuse made with respect to Catholic Church institutions in Australia.

childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
Royal Commission - Catholic Australia The Catholic Church in Australia committed to working collaboratively with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

catholic.au
Child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Australia — CRIN The Commission found that several factors contributed to conditions conducive to abuse. One was the remote locations of some Church institutions ...

home.crin.org
The case of Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional ... Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017d) Report of Case Study No. 28: Catholic Church Authorities in Ballarat ...

journals.sagepub.com
Australia data show sharp fall in clergy abuse, with majority of ... Most people who experienced child sexual abuse by leaders or other adults said it occurred in Catholic organizations (71.9%), followed by other ...

detroitcatholic.com
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to ... This commentary looks at the structural and cultural aspects of the institutional Church most directly connected to sexual abuse by clerics and the ensuing ...

Copyright The FAQyMe Gene © 2025 . Trauma in Religion - Site Map XML Site Map