Why people are religious

[robvalue]

If I find out someone is a theist, then I assume their method of arriving at that conclusion is probably faulty. But I'll happily wait and hear what it is before making that judgement, and that judgement is just my own assessment and not important to any further relations with the person.

Other than that, I don't assume anything. I don't expect them to be any less intelligent, I don't expect them to "not really believe" what they say, and I don't expect them to be illogical regarding non-religious subjects.

They are just a person who has come to a different conclusion to me, and the rest I find out by talking to them individually.

When I talk in broad terms about what "many theists" do, I'm simply reporting on my own observations. Of course, I will have a relatively small sample size and so my assessments will not always be representative. All I can say is that it is a pattern of behaviour I've noticed in at least some theists. I wouldn't assume such a thing does apply to any particular theist though. Each is a blank slate as far as I'm concerned.

They have the opportunity to be a lovely person such as CL, KP and Deidre, or they can waste it by being a judgemental prick who says I'm simply wrong and evil and preaches bullshit at me.

What kind of person someone is, whether they are nice or horrible, caring or disinterested and so on, is what I ultimately care about. Unless I perceive any kind of direct harm they are causing, their beliefs are none of my business any more than they want them to be.