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Baptism, Communion, Confirmation: How Religious Rites Function as Subtle Indoctrination

Religion often presents itself as a source of belonging, meaning, and moral guidance. Yet when examined through the lens of social psychology and indoctrination theory, the sacraments of baptism, communion, and confirmation can also be understood as mechanisms of social conditioning—embedding obedience, loyalty, and exclusivity from infancy to adolescence.

While this article may look at one example, the blueprint is often used across various cultures. A belief in the benefits of humanity being viewed collectively as God might help a child develop in a more holistic manner, without needing to ‘wash away the sins of an institution’. Science may look at electromagnetic entanglements, and quantum physics. Einstein favoured the works of Spinoza, and this might present a good starting point.

The complexity of ritual works I have explored are beyond the scope of this piece. The Shaman, Witch and Druid have looked to find connections. Those who use the occult to profit are not aligned with my desire to explore and know more. This piece only serves as a shadow on Plato’s Wall, and the observer will define reality for themselves.

Baptism: The Covert Induction Process

Baptism is presented as an act of purification and inclusion. In practice, however, it functions as the first stage of identity conditioning. The ritual is typically performed on infants who cannot give informed consent, thereby imprinting religious identity long before personal autonomy develops.

• Psychological imprinting: Developmental psychology shows that early symbolic experiences become markers of identity (Piaget, 1954; Erikson, 1963). Baptism exploits this formative stage by imposing an inherited spiritual “membership” that is presented as permanent.
• Social binding: The ritual reassures families that their children are “saved,” reinforcing multi-generational loyalty (Berger & Luckmann, 1966).
• Lack of autonomy: As Lifton’s (1961) work on thought reform noted, coercion often begins with “unfreezing”—a process of breaking down prior identity to install a new one. In baptism, the “original sin” narrative plays this role, creating the need for church-mediated salvation.

From this perspective, baptism operates less as blessing and more as contractual enrollment without consent.

Communion: Normalising Ritual Dependence

First communion marks the transition from passive membership to active participation. The ritual involves symbolic ingestion of bread and wine as the “body and blood” of Christ, embedding obedience through embodied practice.

• Ritual reinforcement: Social psychologists like Philip Zimbardo (2007) note that repeated ritual actions strengthen group cohesion and obedience. Communion achieves this by making faith not only intellectual but physical.
• In-group dynamics: Tajfel’s social identity theory (1979) explains how ritualised participation fosters strong in-group allegiance while sharpening boundaries with out-groups. Children quickly learn that questioning the ritual signals immaturity or rebellion.
• Reward and approval: The celebration of first communion with gifts, outfits, and family praise conditions children to associate ritual conformity with social acceptance.

Thus, communion serves as a normalisation process, creating ritual dependence and rewarding compliance.

Confirmation: Soldiers of Christ and the Problem of Social Integration

Confirmation is explicitly framed as preparing adolescents to become “soldiers of Christ.” Unlike baptism and communion, which mask their coercive functions in familial warmth, confirmation is openly militant.

• Militant identity: Framing adolescents as “defenders of the faith” entrenches exclusivity, which sociologists of religion such as Bryan Wilson (1982) identified as a hallmark of sectarianism.
• Suppression of doubt: Adolescence is a period of critical questioning (Erikson’s stage of identity vs. role confusion). Confirmation instead demands renewed vows of loyalty, effectively short-circuiting natural critical development (Festinger, 1957; cognitive dissonance theory).
• Integration problem: By valorising obedience to religious authority over civic pluralism, confirmation fosters us-versus-them thinking, complicating integration in diverse societies (Durkheim, 1912/1995).

Rather than enabling teenagers to enter society as open-minded citizens, confirmation hardens ideological boundaries and narrows identity.

Why This Belief Philosophy Does Not Create a Better World

Defenders of these sacraments argue that they build community and moral grounding. Yet the research paints a different picture:

1. Suppression of autonomy: Identity is externally imposed before consent is possible (baptism).
2. Conditioned conformity: Ritual practice becomes equated with belonging and moral worth (communion).
3. Entrenched division: Militant metaphors reinforce exclusivity and hinder pluralistic coexistence (confirmation).
4. Institutional loyalty over ethics: As Altemeyer and Hunsberger (1992) show, strong religious indoctrination often correlates with authoritarianism and intolerance rather than universal compassion.

The structure prioritises institutional continuity over individual growth or social progress.

Beyond the Blueprint: Toward a More Holistic View of Humanity

While this article has focused on Christianity, the blueprint is not unique. Across cultures, institutions deploy rituals of initiation, reinforcement, and consolidation to secure loyalty. Whether in religion, nationalism, or ideology, the pattern is recognisable: identity is shaped through staged rites, often before individuals can critically assess their meaning.

What alternatives exist? A belief in the benefits of humanity being viewed collectively as “God”—that is, recognising the divine in human interconnectedness—may help children develop more holistically. Instead of being told they must “wash away the sins of an institution,” they might learn to value compassion, reason, and mutual responsibility as sacred in themselves.

Albert Einstein famously favoured the works of Baruch Spinoza, who conceived of God not as a paternal ruler but as synonymous with nature and existence itself. Spinoza’s philosophy offers a starting point for a spirituality that does not demand obedience to institutional rites, but instead fosters respect for the interconnected fabric of life. Such a vision might nurture not soldiers, but citizens—people capable of living ethically without fear, coercion, or division.

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Conclusion

Seen through the combined lenses of social psychology, indoctrination theory, and sociology of religion, baptism, communion, and confirmation are not merely benign rites of passage. They are a tiered system of indoctrination: covert initiation, ritual reinforcement, and militant consolidation.

Yet humanity need not be bound to this blueprint. By reframing our sense of the sacred—not in dogma, but in the collective human spirit—we can imagine a more integrated path for future generations. Spinoza, and Einstein after him, invite us to see divinity not in institutional authority, but in the unfolding of life itself. Only then can rituals cease to be tools of control, and instead become celebrations of shared human dignity.

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References (selected)

• Altemeyer, B., & Hunsberger, B. (1992). Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest, and prejudice. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.
• Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. Anchor Books.
• Durkheim, E. (1912/1995). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Free Press.
• Einstein, A. (1930). What I Believe. Forum and Century, New York.
• Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and Society. Norton.
• Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press.
• Lifton, R. J. (1961). Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Norton.
• Piaget, J. (1954). The Construction of Reality in the Child. Basic Books.
• Spinoza, B. (1677/1994). Ethics. Penguin Classics.
• Tajfel, H. (1979). Individuals and groups in social psychology. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.
• Wilson, B. (1982). Religion in Sociological Perspective. Oxford University Press.
• Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. Random House.