How to discuss religion with believers?

[ignoramus]

I have spent many years in discussions with theists.  I conclude their arguments, at their core, are based on religious faith.  Few theists have the awareness or honesty to admit this and many (most?) tend to employ negative arguments attacking any position that contradicts the religious faith (e.g., ID renders unguided biological evolution impossible therefore my belief that God created humans is correct).

I conclude that theists simply rely on certain brain functions (emotion) and non-theists rely on other brain functions (rational thought).

Instead of debating theists about many of the common disputes, I find it more interesting to learn about how theists and non-theists learn to use their brains.  I am fascinated with the persistence and power of childhood religious indoctrination and related social peer pressure upon the development of how the brain functions once exposed to those influences.  I am equally interested in how many indoctrinated theists eventually shed that indoctrination and reprogram their brains' neural paths to favor evidence based rational thinking.

Of course, probing into the depth and extent of a theist's religious indoctrination and the ongoing peer pressure to remain in the fold is a personal intrusion, and many theists simply avoid those inquiries, or minimize them.

Indoctrination is like kinky sex. Once you get exposed to it, nothing is kinky anymore.
IE: all woo becomes feasible... (once you've made those logical circuits dormant)