Musaazi NAMITI | SUNDAY THOUGHT
A viral video about how China stops children below the age of 18 from being taught religion has piqued my interest.
I stumbled on it only days after I casually asked my teenage daughter whether she believes in God. She said she does. A couple of years ago, she had asked me the same question, and I answered with an unequivocal no.
What surprised me is the confidence with which she spoke about the “forthcoming” return of Jesus. That is when I realised that teaching children religion—given that much of what it says is dogma and not true—can seriously indoctrinate young minds in a way that makes it hard for them to think critically.
China, the video I watched suggests, allows religious education only after young people have turned 18. Whether or not the video’s account is entirely accurate, it makes a great deal of sense. At the age of 18, whoever is taught religion can decide for themselves whether what they are learning makes sense or does not.
People at that age can ask probing and pertinent questions they would never ask when they are in nursery or primary school.
The narrator of the video argues that in much of Africa, the teaching of religion to young impressionable minds means the children grow up looking up to religious figures such as Jesus to be their provider, to be the solution to all their problems.
By contrast, China starts teaching children that engineering, maths and innovation will be the real solvers of their problems. Children grow up seeing the results of what innovation can do for them and their country.
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Many Chinese leaders have engineering or technical backgrounds, and that partly explains why the country is the world’s factory and, crucially, the second-largest economy.
In Africa, factories are hard to find. Yet almost every suburb has a church and a pastor who keeps telling young people that their saviour is Jesus. That would not be a problem at all if Jesus solved real problems such as unemployment and poverty. But he does not.
The pastors instead milk whatever money they can from impoverished church members. While they build nice homes and drive flashy cars, the people to whom they sell Jesus sink further into poverty.
Following China’s example does not mean African countries will become China overnight. But it can help us prevent religious indoctrination, which is responsible for some of our countries’ social and economic problems.
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🔴 Sunday Thought cuts through the noise of prayer, piety and superstition to ask the questions most people avoid. It discusses God, faith and religion—not to preach, but to probe, challenge and sometimes unsettle. Whether you believe, doubt or have stopped looking altogether, Sunday Thought will make you think, question and maybe even rethink everything you thought you knew about the divine—and about life itself.