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Indoctrination, Education & God: The Struggle for the Mind

Reviewed by Richard Cheetham.

The subject matter of this book could hardly be more important in a twenty-first century plural world in which so many ideas and world-views compete for our attention. A considerable part of our beliefs and values is forged in education. Copley argues that contemporary British education lacks a heart and purpose. It has become pragmatically secular in practice. It allows young people to drift into a deeply inadequate understanding of religious belief which can be a form of pluralist relativism or indifferent agnosticism.

Indoctrination is usually associated with religious beliefs, but Copley suggests that a secular indoctrination process is at work in British education which predisposes young people to a secular view. He describes contemporary British society as a ‘choking culture’ which is weighted against traditional Christianity. The education system colludes with this and fails to induct people into a mature debate about the place and truth claims of religion.

Much of the book is a survey of the ambiguous place of religious belief in Britain particularly since the mid twentieth century with the trends of secularism, pluralism and increasing interest in ‘spirituality’. Copley attacks what he sees as the ‘fundamentalist individualism’ of contemporary society. At times his survey seemed rather rambling and I would have preferred a closer and longer analysis of the concept of indoctrination. Nevertheless there are plenty of ideas to stimulate the reader to think about a crucial topic of our contemporary world. Copley has made an important contribution to the debate about the nature of education in twenty-first century Britain. Good religious education which enables people to genuinely engage with the variety of religions and world-views is more important than ever.