A dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that people are expected to accept without question or doubt. When something is treated as dogma, you're supposed to follow it because an authority says so, based on their position rather than evidence or reasoning you can examine yourself.

Religious groups often have dogmas: core teachings that followers are expected to believe. The Catholic Church, for example, has official dogmas about certain religious matters. Political movements can have dogmas too: ideas that members must accept to belong to the group.

The word carries a cautious tone. When someone says “that's just dogma,” they usually mean the belief is being pushed on people rather than earned through evidence or reasoning. A teacher who insists you solve math problems only one way, refusing to consider that other methods might work, is being dogmatic. Scientists try to avoid dogma by testing ideas and changing their minds when new evidence appears.

A contrast to dogma is open inquiry: asking questions, examining evidence, and thinking for yourself. In a good classroom, teachers encourage students to understand why something is true and to genuinely comprehend it rather than simply memorize what they're told. Dogma says “believe this.” Critical thinking asks “why should I believe this?”