(September 13, 2014 at 4:07 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote:(September 13, 2014 at 3:50 pm)Simon Moon Wrote: No.
They just compartmentalize their theistic beliefs.
They put them in a special place in their minds where they refuse or fail to evaluate them with the same level of critical thinking they use for all the other supernatural and extraordinary claims they have rejected.
Ask these critical thinking theists why they reject; bigfoot, UFO abductions, ancient aliens, levitating gurus, crystal healing, Tarot, etc, etc and they will almost assuredly reject them for the correct reasons (lack of: evidence, reasoned argument and valid/sound logic).
Ask them why they believe in a god, and you will not get the same level of critical thinking. You will get mental gymnastics.
Not really.
Where are the elite scientists and professors at prestigious schools who ascribe to any of those ideas you just mentioned? Maybe they're non-existent because there's a stark difference in the reasoning behind them?
You don't think the psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists and philosophers at the elite schools accept and understand (at least to some degree) mental compartmentalization?
There certainly no lack of experiments that demonstrate it.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
