On Fundamentalism and The Closed Religious Mind
For Christian fundamentalists, being taught to suppress critical thinking begins at a very early age. It is the combination of the brain’s vulnerability to believing unsupported facts and aggressive indoctrination that create the perfect storm for gullibility. Due to the brain’s plasticity, or ability to be sculpted by lived experiences, evangelicals literally often become hardwired to believe far-fetched statements.
This wiring begins when they are first taught to accept Biblical stories not as metaphors for living life practically and purposefully, but as objective truth. Mystical explanations for natural events train young minds to not demand evidence for beliefs. As a result, the neural pathways that promote healthy skepticism and rational thought are not properly developed. This inevitably leads to a greater susceptibility to lying and gaslighting by manipulative politicians, and greater suggestibility in general.
To combat the brain’s habit of taking the path of least resistance, which has destructive consequences for critical thinking, more emphasis and value must be placed on empirical evidence. For the human mind, believing is more of a reflex than a careful and methodical action.
Interesting that this also applies to the political mindset, especially to the right-wing of the spectrum. It is not surprising that the largest demographic of the right-wing is composed primarily of fundamentalist/evangelical Christians.