But, back to the Christian realm, the sad reality is that the modern Christian, especially in what I call Neofundamentalism and in the metaphysics movement, is taught not to think, or at the very best, taught to think in seemingly logical ways that fail under testing.

For example, there is a relatively popular, though ridiculous, movement that insists that pi is exactly 3, based on measurements provided in the Old Testament for one of the round vessels used in the temple. The “logic” used goes like this: “We know the Bible is God’s perfect Word. The Bible clearly shows by example that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is exactly 3. Therefore, anyone who insists that pi can be approximated as 3.14159265358 … is completely wrong.”

The fascinating thing is, this could be obviously refuted with a string, a circle, and a ruler, but the people follow the “logic” and would probably continue to refute their own experience if they experimented with it. I wonder what happens when such people notice the difference between the parallel accounts in 2 Samuel 24:13 and 1 Chronicles 21:12?

I found similar inability to reason when examining the PowerPoint files for a six-week course on the “Superiority of the King James Bible,” which contained not a shred of evidence supporting the provided topic. (At best, it occasionally supported the reliability of the KJV, but never its superiority, and generally did not hit the topic at all.)

Our metaphysics (“health and wealth gospel”) advocates fare no better. “Jesus wants everyone healthy and rich!” (He does? Like Himself? Like the apostles? Like the believers in the early church?) Let’s ignore history and Scriptural context so we can justify our pursuit of materialism …

And don’t let me even begin on so-called Biblical diets. :: shudder ::

I would love to blame Christian education, with its lack of real-world skills, love of mediocrity, and reliance on rote learning through high school, but that certainly doesn’t apply in every case.

Is the problem, as Erik suggested, authoritarian pulpits that squash discussion or even opinion if it contrasts the official party line?

Or could it be that we are no longer a culture of thinkers? Of readers? Were we ever? Heinlein wrote about the languages and mathematics his father had to study in relatively low grades, and how his own education was not as good.

What will it take to transform the people who are supposed to be “wise as serpents,” into people who think, read, discuss, argue, and reason?