Changing ones mind about a subject

[Edwardo Piet]

Oh I forgot to say something else I was going to point out: When people do eventually change their minds it often seems to be when they can figure out a way to make it look like their own idea. People love feeling in control of their own minds (and lives). And in my experience when they credit someone else as being the person who changed their mind, it's almost always only someone they respect. If they can't find someone they respect or like to credit, they'll find a way to credit themselves for it.

We're far less rational than we think we are. I think a lot of these mental gymnastics -- done by both theists and atheists, and by both irrational and "rational" people -- is done subconsciously.