Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds

The other employs deliberative analysis, which uses reason to arrive at a conclusion.

 I've had an analytical mind my whole life. I used my deliberate analysis and arrived at the conclusion that God is very real. From the article: So does this mean that religious faith can be underminded with just a lettle extra effort? Not really. But it does show that belief isn't set in stone, but can respond to a person's context. "Even deeply religious people will point out they have had moments of doubt."~Epley.

 Not really?? THAT'S the best answer they could come up with..."not really."?? Well DUH! Nothing was "concluded" that we didn't already know. I wonder how much of our tax dollars was spent on THAT study?

I wonder about those all or nothing positions, because there is nobody who is completely analytical and totally without instinct.

Well, Spock is completely analytical.  But, he's not real, so. . . never mind.

I did see this a couple of days ago, and toyed with the idea of posting it here, but then considered the repercussions.  I figured it would be seen as me throwing down the gauntlet again, and didn't feel like dealing with it.  I'm surprised at how civilly this is going so far.  The study makes perfect sense to me - I don't see much room for arguing with it, but I figured that the direction of the discussion would depend on who posted it.  Let's hope the discussion can continue to be civil.

"SpirtedWitch what really made you distant from Christianity?"
There were many things ... one of the main things ... the Bible. I realized that it was written by man and therefore fallible. Aside from that, it [Christianity] had never felt right with me. Always felt wrong, even when I put everything into it. The more I thought, the more I knew it wasn't right for me. 

Anything else you want to know? 

It was an interesting article and I agree that are religious instinctisn't "set in stone" .  I feel we should develop our analytical and instinctual  skills to make us a more rounded person.  It's okay to develop both logical and abstract thinking abilities.  That's one reason I'm so fond of the Jesuit order.    They're dedicated to education and work in the sciences following in the tradition of  Ignatius of Loyola.

It is an interesting article. There are many Apologists these days that are talking about the Dark intellect we are in. Faith and reason should and do go hand in hand. Unfortunately there many religious leaders out there that want the people to just follow blindly. Don't search for answers, don't use your intellect to find the truth. My observation has been that both sides of the fence will put their fingers in their ears going lalalalalal don't tell me anything that will cause to me think that my way is wrong. Don't tell me anything that may cause me to rethink my beliefs. Instead of saying you might have a point there let me research and see if I can find something to this. Or maybe I should dig deeper to find the reasoning behind this or that theology. For many theologies if you dig deeper you will find quite a few straw theories that on the surface makes sense, but the deeper you dig the theory starts to blow away.

I totally agree with Dard and will add, as a Mormon, I was scared to question (think) on a deep level. I mean of course I had questions, but I remember being discouraged from reading ANY anti Mormon material, because it could lead me away from my faith. That is cult like to me. Critical thinking skills should be taught, we should always know exactly what we "believe", from all sides. Even as a Christian, I didn't really know what I "believed", I never read the Bible cover to cover with a full understanding of what it meant, but I didn't want to question it because I like it, loved it actually (the religion) and also felt it would be a betrayal to God.

That was a very interesting article. And I do agree with the last senance which basically saidthat all of us question no matter how religious we are.

I do think that the way we are wired may play a role in our religiousness.
I do not know what kind of brain I have but in the example given the answer was just there in my head . That was the way it was in school for me as well and though I had the right answer the work leading up to it was not there. It infuritaed the teachers. lol

Reading what you write, my guess is that you analyse things as well. I also feel that you hold your beliefs very dear just like I do.

So my thinking is that yes, I think it can cause you to question. That may lead you to stronger belief or to disbelief. Disbeief can lead you to another religion or to completely break with religion.
Thomas More could hardly be classifed as lacking in thought and yet he was religious.

SpirtedWitch what really made you distant from Christianity?