Do you control what you believe?

[Angrboda]

I'll just throw this out there... I don't have the source, but I know I've read about this phenomenon: If you have a moving religious experience by a certain age (before the brain is fully developed, I believe towards the end of adolescence), certain areas of the brain related to critical thinking shut down. Thereby, if one doesn't have a moving religious experience early in life, one is A) less likely to have faith, and B) more open to different ideas. By having this exposure to a moving religious experience, I'd assume there would be a greater difficulty later in life of overcoming one's beliefs. Which is where you get the fundamentalists who simply won't listen to reason or accept proof or factual evidence. Thoughts?

I know offhand that (supposedly) 85% of conversions occur between the ages of four and fourteen, but I would have to do some research. I just ordered a book from Amazon last night on the science of religious belief, so I'm gonna check there first (J Anderson Thomson).

What you cite sounds familiar, but it also sounds like the "Republicanz haz small brains," too. I'll see what I can find. There's also related threads on the nature of the self on Ratz (rationalia.com), but they've tended to either pure philosophy or extremely reductionist neuroscience