everytime an indvidual opens his mouth and attempt to influence someone else by gathering or putting informations into his mind, it's a brainwashing process. This thread is stupid.
We are all a sum of conditionnings that for the most parts we didnt even choose. The first one being born at some random place when others are born somewhere else. So much for freedom of choice...
As you grow older, new information is met with your accumulated prejudices. Children have few prejudices, and are therefore incredibly easy to influence, accepting almost anything they hear. Swede is saying that it is in his interest (and, he insists, all of our interests') to refrain from teaching children religion until they have more experience. Then, instead of being automatically accepted, the religious thoughts will have to fight for their place in the (hopefully) young adult's head.
Schopenhauer said something similar in his essay "On Education." He believed children should be taught things which they can understand for themselves -- math, history, and the like -- while saving the more complex issues for adulthood. Of course, no child (or adult) can understand everything they hear, and we all have many prejudices which are accepted on authority or with a hazy understanding of the premises. The fact is, though, that this is even MORE true for things like religion, political, and philosophical issues. These issues are the most sophisticated, and therefore possess more room for error.
Yes, "everything is conditioning," but, as Swede would doubtless agree, instilling your most complex prejudices in your children is a bad strategy for conditioning, and, as you might say "= less chance for survival."
