Reply #111: I DO have a rather dim view of human autonomy.

[darkstar3]

We are slaves to our psychologies, our biology, and to a certain extent, our social norms. I base my observation from above on the many people I have talked with in real life about these topics, who tell me that they have renounced their religions due to conflicts of conscience, but that they retain their belief in God. Every time I press them for more info on why they retain these views, Pascal's Wager and various other fear-based explanations are cited.

There's a reason the Jesuits claim to be able to make a man by the age of six: Indoctrination works, and has long-term effects that are sometimes impossible to reverse. More proof of that can be found in the fact that the vast majority of people on this planet retain the faith of their parents.

Therefore, since it has been proven since time immemorial that indoctrination does indeed work, and indoctrination is used by religious parents to ensure that their children grow up in the "right" faith, I do believe that my claim is valid. And now that I've supported my claim through simple logic, perhaps you could support your equivocation?