What makes people irrational thinkers?

[Belacqua]

"Watch your tongue. Glorify your own faith and you do it harm. Praise other faiths, don’t slight them. Mix with others, learn from them. This way you honour your own faith and benefit every other."

Third century leader of India thought this was such good advice that he had it carved in stone.

Well that kind of reminds me of something I believe the Buddha said... something like you should be open to wisdom from any source, thus being open to different religions etc. I can't remember the exacts words at all obviously but that was the general gist of it. When I try to tell my dad about that, as an example of what I consider a very open minded and progressive religion, even at its inception, I still get more pushback than I do when I talk about atheism... which is a shame, because to me it is just an atheist philosophy, not a religion. Ie I do not believe in any superstition or reincarnation etc, but I appreciate the philosophy of Buddhism... and yes, find comfort in it; ie when I'm depressed I often turn to YouTube to watch a talk by a monk, usually my favourite, Ajahn Brahm, and it really helps puts things into perspective.

Well spotted! The leader I was quoting was Ashoka, who spread Buddhism in India. 

I should have said third century BC. I was only off by a few centuries. 

I'll look up Ajahn Brahm.