Charge against Christian nurture of indoctrination is based on the assumption that it is opposed to the enlightenment ideal of liberal education. As such it is always accompanied by a concern about a lack of autonomy of the students and the production of closed minds.
But it has not been proven at all that religious instruction perse produces closed minds.
It has been proven that science is as irrational as religion, therefore teaching science is as indoctrinating as teaching religion. Both are based on values and beliefs that rest on unproven assumptions.
It has been proven that most charges of indoctrination are in the context of prejudice against the faith. Discussions of indoctrination are invariably coloured by strong anti-religious sentiments. As such, the deposition of the charge as well as the defence of it is often the fruit of indoctrination by those who oppose the religious nurture.
All parents and teachers want to convince their children of a point of view, they all want them to adopt certain values. The Christian parent is not any different in this from the ‘liberal’ parent, other than that she is, maybe, a bit more honoust about it.
The concepts of indoctrination and autonomy are not clear defined. Thiesen proposes the use of the terms normal critical openess and normal autonomy.