(May 4, 2016 at 3:28 pm)robvalue Wrote: I understand the huge barriers some theists put up regarding seriously studying new things.
If they study them, they might end up being convinced by them. And this could put them at odds with their deeply held beliefs. If they come to realise that actually there are perfectly reasonable explanations for how the Earth came to be, or how we evolved from other apes, then they've got a serious problem. They either admit their previous beliefs were unfounded, or live with severe cognitive dissonance as they try and persuade themselves to believe them anyway.
It's understandable why they keep science at arm's length and throw rotten tomatoes at it. Knowledge is dangerous to religion. And that's a really sad thing.
Very few fundamentalists, continue to be fundamentalists, after attending seminary.
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.