Is it fair to say that Christians are brainwashed?

Um...YES.

If you doubt it, let’s take a look at the seven tactics of “Coercive Persuasion” (A.K.A.: Brainwashing) from Factnet.org:

TACTIC 1: The individual is prepared for thought reform through increased suggestibility and/or "softening up."
        One of the methods cited is “Extended audio, visual, verbal, or tactile fixation drills.” Like, perhaps, speaking in tongues? The repetitious act of speaking gibberish ad nauseam until one is convinced that it is God that allows them to do so? Yeah. Like that.

TACTIC 2: Using rewards and punishments, efforts are made to establish considerable control over a person's social environment, time, and sources of social support.
        In all honesty, this one would take some real effort to shoehorn into my argument. As bending logic to reinforce fantasy is the providence of the religious and not the rational, I will let this one go. Which is okay because, as Factnet.org states, “A coercive persuasion program can still be quite effective without the presence of ALL seven of these tactic types.” Moving on...

TACTIC 3: Disconfirming information and nonsupporting opinions are prohibited in group communication.
        I don’t think I need to explain that within a denomination, teachings that contradict the official stance of the denomination aren’t exactly embraced.

TACTIC 4: Frequent and intense attempts are made to cause a person to re-evaluate the most central aspects of his or her experience of self and prior conduct in negative ways.
        Scientology is well known for using this tactic. It is the first step they take in indoctrinating their members. As nefarious as this sounds, at least they use the tactic on adults. Yes, you heard right. Christians use the same tactic...and they do it to children. Don’t believe me? Check this out:



TACTIC 5: Intense and frequent attempts are made to undermine a person's confidence in himself and his judgment, creating a sense of powerlessness.
        This is essentially the main tenet of Christianity. We are all sinners and can only find salvation through the perfection of Jesus. He died for our sins, after all. Why did he do that? Because none of us, not a one, can help but be a sinner. Even children.



TACTIC 6: Nonphysical punishments are used.
        This is further defined as “intense humiliation, loss of privilege, social isolation, social status changes, intense guilt, anxiety, manipulation and other techniques for creating strong aversive emotional arousals, etc.” Sounds a lot like the Gay Recovery Camps that many sects employ to reprogram their gay parishioners. They’re isolated, shuffled away from the public eye and disavowed until they’re proclaimed as “cured.”

TACTIC 7: Certain psychological threats [force] are used or are present.
        In addition to the earthly fears of disavowal by friends and family if they don’t properly believe in God, there is also the ever-present threat of Hell, which is used as a constant fear-inducing tactic, even at a very early age.

Aside from these textbook definitions of brainwashing, there is also the consideration of life-long indoctrination, from birth. Many Christian families, especially those that homeschool, actually put more emphasis on teaching their children the Bible than actual education like math and literature. When you’re taught something from birth, especially when it’s drilled into you with a fundamentalist’s fervor, it’s hard to see the world in any other way as an adult.

The YouTube clips above, by the way, are from the Documentary Jesus Camp. With enough time to scrub through the movie and make short videos of the right clips, I could almost certainly give a video example of each of these tactics (save for tactic #2) just from that movie. I recommend you watch it, because this isn’t a fringe group of Christians in America, they are the majority. They are the people who pile in to the “Mega Churches” across the country. It is a disturbing and unsettling look at the state of religion in America.