4 ms·

This one is probably very different than many people experienced, but I credit these things for being in the top 1% of earnings for my American co-hort (startin

This one is probably very different than many people experienced, but I credit these things for being in the top 1% of earnings for my American co-hort (starting race, gender, educational attainment and economic class.) My parents were theologians and both grew up as missionaries kids in incredibly dangerous, remote, environments, the best thing they did was teach us to think critically and parse communication (especially persuasive communication) and complex ideas. They used the tools of hermeneutics, theology and philosophy to do this, they also exposed us to living philosophers and their writings and the fields many journals. They became heavily involved in education, literacy and higher learning and their plans to go overseas for mission work were dropped. Every week on the way home from from the different churches we went to they would ask us what the pastors had preached incorrectly, what assertions they had made that were not defensible with the text they had used. There was very occasionally nothing said incorrect but there was usually A LOT of indefensible and even contradictory teaching. Much of it was teaching dominant local cultural positions unsupported by or antithetical to the text. My siblings went into successful careers in scientific research, law, tech and leadership roles. Literacy, critical thinking and the ability to parse complex ideas are invaluable. Having an "objective" text to argue to made things much more approachable as children. I would love to figure out how to do that with my own kids if I ever have them, I won't be taking them to church so I'm not sure how to replicate the same environment. Edit: The other thing they did was they moved us to a very wealthy area when I was about 13, and even though health catastrophe destroyed my families fortunes and health (before taking the lives of both my parents while I was barely 20,) our financial proximity to wealth and our willingness to exploit ourselves did give us access to capital opportunities we wouldn't have had in a less affluent area.

paulryanrogers 4y ago
Religious indoctrination was a negative in my experience, and contradictory to the critical thinking and skepticism taught of everything not blessed by the approved authorities.
- fellowniusmonk 4y ago
  Strong agree, big part of why I'm not involved with any theist _anything_ anymore, it was a unique experience and my parents were unique people, some of the few people I've met who really valued systematic thinking, arguing from first principles and were raised in a very plural cultural environment. Not many 5-15 year olds get age appropriate training in cultural bias and taught to see that so much people tie to their personal or cultural identity is just recent memetic trend. The feedback loop of regular and default critical analysis really prepared all of us children for the internet age, a mental firewall inculcated at a young age to analyze instructed belief and media literacy is not a common experience, I did started appreciating it during highschool. They were also strongly anti shame and strangely were against both non-conformity and conformity. We all ended up being very different people, and different in almost every way from them with but we share their agreeableness, openness to new experience, and tend to the analytical.
  - memling 4y ago
    Can you talk a bit more about the reasons for your deconversion? I'm always fascinated by these stories and it seems like yours includes an interesting elemnt of your parents supplying you with the tools to think critically about what you believe and why.
- brnt 4y ago
  It sounds like OPs parents were actually philosophers (logicians!) at heart, and happened to have religion as field of study. I know that this is in theology in theory, but in practice theology is a field often studied by the priest-class. I've not caught the theologian in our family ever showing any of the process of critical thinking. The main place to study theology in my country is reply rooted in protestantism and has as main output pastors and vicars. OPs parents sound much more interesting than this :)
sinuhe69 4y ago
Parse complex ideas sounds intriguing. Do you have a blog or any writing where it explains the process in more details? Thanks

paulryanrogers 4y ago

Religious indoctrination was a negative in my experience, and contradictory to the critical thinking and skepticism taught of everything not blessed by the approved authorities.

fellowniusmonk 4y ago
Strong agree, big part of why I'm not involved with any theist _anything_ anymore, it was a unique experience and my parents were unique people, some of the few people I've met who really valued systematic thinking, arguing from first principles and were raised in a very plural cultural environment. Not many 5-15 year olds get age appropriate training in cultural bias and taught to see that so much people tie to their personal or cultural identity is just recent memetic trend. The feedback loop of regular and default critical analysis really prepared all of us children for the internet age, a mental firewall inculcated at a young age to analyze instructed belief and media literacy is not a common experience, I did started appreciating it during highschool. They were also strongly anti shame and strangely were against both non-conformity and conformity. We all ended up being very different people, and different in almost every way from them with but we share their agreeableness, openness to new experience, and tend to the analytical.
- memling 4y ago
  Can you talk a bit more about the reasons for your deconversion? I'm always fascinated by these stories and it seems like yours includes an interesting elemnt of your parents supplying you with the tools to think critically about what you believe and why.
brnt 4y ago
It sounds like OPs parents were actually philosophers (logicians!) at heart, and happened to have religion as field of study. I know that this is in theology in theory, but in practice theology is a field often studied by the priest-class. I've not caught the theologian in our family ever showing any of the process of critical thinking. The main place to study theology in my country is reply rooted in protestantism and has as main output pastors and vicars. OPs parents sound much more interesting than this :)

sinuhe69 4y ago

Parse complex ideas sounds intriguing. Do you have a blog or any writing where it explains the process in more details? Thanks