Unnaturally Selective Critical Thinking
Something that I have stated many times is that students are not being taught critical thinking, and it appears that it has not been happening for quite a spell. Note that critical thinking does not mean casual negativity, as in, "Where did she get that sweater? And those shoes!" No, this is about logical thinking and examining evidence. Many times, I have encountered allegedly educated people that cannot connect two logical thoughts. They really get on the prod when they are consumed with hate for a subject or for people.
The author of the article featured below is more generous than I am about the teaching of critical thinking. However, he qualifies it in that people are not taught to examine the facts regarding scum-to-storyteller evolution or to ask pertinent questions when a scientist, professor, researcher, or some such is spinning a yarn praising Darwinism. Naturalists and secularists are intent on telling people what to think (which is indoctrination), but biblical creatists try to teach people how to think.
Christians are supposed to presuppose that God's Word is true and accurate on every subject that is discussed. Atheists and naturalists presuppose that there is no God, no creation, no purpose in life, and that the Bible is worthless. Interestingly, they are standing on the biblical worldview when they talk about right and wrong, logic, mathematics, and more — inadvertently admitting that their worldview does not work. These are immaterial things, but they are nonetheless real and necessary for life. Indeed, without God, logic is impossible.
The article below uses a phrase I used to like but now it makes me cringe: follow where the evidence leads. Aside from the reification fallacy (evidence cannot "lead" anywhere), we cannot simply present evidence for God's existence and for recent special creation and expect unbelievers to fall on their knees in repentance.
Sure, some folks have been convinced and become Christians when they were given necessary evidence, but salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit. We have to be faithful in our part and leave the rest to him. You see, it's a spiritual issue, not simply about evidence. We have plenty of that, but people are in rebellion against God. Antony Flew was a famous atheist and the evidence caused him to believe that God exists. However, it seems that it was presented without the gospel message, and there is no reason to believe he was any less lost when he died than when he was a professing atheist.
A bit of a wordy introduction, I know. I agree with most of the article linked below, and believe it would be worth your time to give it some serious consideration.
I'd be much obliged if you would finish reading it by clicking on "Not All Critical Thinking Is Equal".Educators believe in teaching critical thinking skills except for subjects they don’t want to critique.At The Conversation, Peter Ellerton believes children are capable of learning how to think critically. This lecturer in critical thinking at the University of Queensland titles his article, “Thinking about thinking helps kids learn. How can we teach critical thinking?” Critical thinking is not just having a high IQ or being smart, he says. It involves thinking about thinking: developing skills to discern between good and bad reasons for believing things.