Reply #22: An opportunity to learn vs. shutting down

[tpsbmam]

Though I tend to agree with you about the "stupid" part when it comes to following along mindlessly, this is a great opportunity for your brother to learn and keep those lessons with him in the future. Calling people names (as much as I want to sometimes) leads them to shutting down and cease listening. It leads to defensiveness and often becoming more entrenched in their positions rather than opening themselves up to debate and, sometimes to my surprise, coming around to understand and (partly) accept the position of others.

I consider faith a matter of heart more than mind. From that perspective, it's a great opportunity for your bother to learn to separate the two. Faith doesn't mean that you give up your power of reason, logic or inquisitiveness. It doesn't mean that you follow blindly. It means that you believe in God, not in the false prophets who tell you that they know what God wants him to believe.

If he believes that he was made by God, then he should believe that God made his brain and the powers listed above for a reason, and that reason wasn't to disavow them.

This comes from an atheist, but one who respects the religious beliefs of others (who, I note, frequently don't return the respect). His faith can guide him into learning that God created humans with an evolutionarily (sorry...dirty word) sophisticated brain for a reason and he can now start honoring that by learning the truth about Bush and his regime, rather than following blindly the lies of the religious right and their political agenda.