Abstract

The paper offers a qualified defense of religious indoctrination, pursuing three primary lines of argument. First, it contends that it can be virtuous to indoctrinate, even if the doctrines one instils are wrong. Second, it argues that religious indoctrination per se does not undercut a person’s autonomy. Finally, it defends the claim that, as a general practice, religious indoctrination does not make the world worse off than it would otherwise be, even if believing in a particular doctrine or being brought up in a particular religious community sometimes may.