The freedom to be stupid — why has no one thought of this before?

Why can’t we just teach kids “both sides of the debate”?

…and while we’re at it, why can’t those negroes just eat at their own lunch counters?

If we didn’t have the freedom to be stupid, I can think of 585 people who’d be in jail right now…

A degree from any institution of “higher” learning will carry as much weight as the paper from the pretend “bible” colleges that dot the countryside.

Not that it matters, since all serious scientific reseach is aready being outsourced to China and India.

Really. Not serving negroes is just a different viewpoint, too!

Can someone please wake up Texas and welcome them to 2011?

The measure from Republican state Rep. Bill Zedler would block higher education institutions from discriminating against or penalizing teachers or students based on their research into intelligent design or other theories that disagree with evolution reality.

That needed to be fixed.

Watch as every accrediting agency worth the name moves to strike all Texas schools from their lists.

…er, 535. I was including the governors, yeah, that’s the ticket…

Indeed. Good catch.

Or at least 1911?

I saw that and did the “435 + 100 = 535… Add in the Supremes and … are there 41 officials in the Obama Admin?” in my head.

Only 535?

Poor liars for Jeezus…so put upon.

Guess you heathen skeptics musta not been reading the latest science stuff..

This dude is pretty excited about it…

At least I’m self-correcting…which is more than we can say for creationists.

And I guess you’ve never read this scientific paper, either…

The picture of Jesus with the baby T-Rex made my day.

Who knew that Fred Flintstone spoke Aramaic?

The freedom to be stupid while collecting a paycheck for a job you’re not qualified for— why has no one thought of this before?

Fixed that for ya. I think someone has thought of this before. After all, nobody stopped that creation museum from being built in the South Kentucky the armpit of America.

Stupid armpits. No matter how big a problem they are you can’t amputate them.

Where’s the Onion article from a few weeks back where NASA managed to kill God?

Heh…

Musta missed that one…

Next thing you know there will have to be legislation to protect neolibrul economists. They’re only 3% of the field, so clearly a disadvantaged minority.

Oh, and let’s not forget the rich, esp the top 0.1%

At least I’m self-correcting…which is more than we can say for creationistsidiots.

Let’s call it like it is.

So if you believe in Creation theory and get a degree in Genetics Texas research institutions have to hire you for a position in evolution research?
That would seem to be the next logical step otherwise people who believe in Creation theory who get Texas biology degrees won’t get jobs.
Imagine if Nasa had to hire people who did not believe the sun not the earth is the center of the solar system. Or who thought that objects ten times heavier fell ten times faster.
Both were church positions until quite recently historically now imagine trying to square church theory with landing a man on the moon.

If one is crazy enough to believe in some sort of “supreme” being then why not question evolution?

It’s pretty frustrating when people CHOOSE to be ignorant. Our point of view gets no protection in anything but their minority point of view is sacred. Phooey.

Here it is :)

“I am ecstatic to tell you all today that we have beheld the awesome visage of the supreme architect of the cosmos, and we have murdered Him,” jubilant administrator Charles Bolden said after being drenched with champagne by other celebrating NASA employees.

Unfortunately, it’s reaching the point where OURS is the minority point of view. Whole lot of free-floating ignorance around just looking for a home.

Wait, a second – I’m a little confused. Is it even possible to get a masters or phd in biology or related field without accepting evolution? Froom an accredited university? Not the christian fascist diploma mills, but a real school? After all, we’re talking about university instructors here.

The high school teacher thing I get. Most of them have a BA in education with a concentration, so I imagine some idiots can speak through. But graduate education? How is that possible? It’s not possible to be a competent biologist capable of making scholarly contributions and be a creationist at the same time.

ALEC must have brought in warehouses of new servers they are so busy with this looking backward shit these days

saw Tennessee (yep, home of the Scopes trial) is introducing similar legist for elementary schools

…now imagine trying to square church theory with landing a man on the moon.

There’s a surprising number of “people” out there who think that was a hoax.

Regrettably, it’s perfectly possible. I wonder how such a graduate can manage to get a job with such a screaming case of cognitive dissonance, though. Maybe they don’t.

With few exceptions, institutions of “higher” learning in Texas are little more than glorified high schools.

Texas is giving Florida a run for the money in that department.

My wife applied for the Bachelors’ program at University of Texas. Major in Psychology.

The classify Psychology as a “Liberal Art.”

Way too funny…

Their contributions are peer reviewed by the Flat Earth Society members only.

The whole concept of ALEC, the fact that it even exists, is sooo fucking wrong.

I imagine they don’t get jobs. I’m surprised the high school teachers were able to get jobs.

Does anyone know of a creationist that does research at a major research institution? Or teaches biology at an accredited four year college? Of anyone this bill might apply to if they were in Texas?

I’d like to think graduates like that account for the majority of people with grad degrees that are out of work.

They set up the whole thing in Barstow. You didn’t get the memo?

“One small step for man, one giant leap for trailer parks and meth labs.”

Hey, there’s more to Barstow than trailer parks and meth labs.

They have demolition derby.

I see it’s now all the rage to ‘out’ it – proud to say I learned of it’s place within the right wing’s infrastructure right here at the Lake in early 06

Don’t forget the Alabama Slammers — the “Austrian economists” who just happen to be based out of Alabama’s right armpit and keep yammering about “fiat money”.

Hahahahahahahaha!

Oh, wait…the Flat Earth Society is REAL? Fucking REAL?!

This thread is chock full of stuff I can’t believe – or accept.

They have demolition derby.

There’s your proof that it’s an advanced civilization..

Those satellite images of round earth? Bogus. They’re artistic rendering designed to confuse us.

Certainly. Demolition derby is one of the hallmarks of a forward society. Like roller derby and gladiatorial combat.

There seems to be no end of discredited academic issues that will required legislation to make sure they are not discriminated against.

The sat photos prove the earth is flat. It flat with a round shape.

Like my belly :(

Good one!!

The person who wrote Genesis has a lot to answer for. Made a lot of trouble.

I think the statute of limitations has run out.

I think the male reproductive anatomy is the ultimate proof that creationism is bullshit. No way God would’ve made something that looked so damn silly and stupid.

Let’s hear it for enforced ignorance. This is about building a patronage network for neocon political supporters. Dismantling the educational system and debilitating our scientific competitiveness are irrelevant in the neocons’ quest for power. They must assume they are all elites who can pay to go to Asia or Europe to have their lifesaving surgeries or to buy the high-tech products and services without which they would be communicating with two cans and a string.

I have a vague memory of another thread on a similar subject. One commenter suggested that the legie that passed such laws be required to be treated only by docs who didn’t agree with evolution.

There’s no information provided about what professors we are talking about or what subjects they teach. Having a supporter of Intelligent Design teach it in a molecular biology class might be a problem for me if they deviated from the material I needed to learn to get into medical school. But if it is not included in or relevant to the actual course material – for example, in fields outside of the biological sciences – they SHOULD NOT BE persecuted for holding such beliefs.

It’s like the Astrology discussion in here from a couple months back…

A person who believes in the powers of Astrology can still be a competent lawyer and may be qualified to teach at a law school. Does it really matter if a Computer Science professor believes the world is flat? Or an Art professor buys into reincarnation? None of these people should be persecuted in the workplace for having different belief systems provided it does not interfere with their actual work.

For the vast majority of people (including everyone I’ve met on FDL) on the vast majority of subjects…

No matter what you believe or why you believe it, there is someone out there smarter than you who believes the opposite.

That’s hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.

Guest on democracynow this morning said it was already a 7, fwiw.

OT we are under Tornado watch here in the Bay area.. Just announced on by the weather service.. You know part of where the Republicans want to cut funds for!!

Raining like cats and Dogs now!!!

LOL, “Ambulance driver! Take us to the revivalist tent over in bumfuck county, right away!”

TEXAS – home of invincible stupidity

“… based on their research into intelligent design or other theories that disagree with evolution.”

I am sure that if anyone can produce some actual peer reviewed experiments that conform to the scientific method either for or against Intelligent Design that most scientists would be glad to look at it.

“…the academic freedom to have all kinds of ideas and philosophies…”

And therin lies the rub. I never heard anyone suggest that ID is an inappropriate topic for a Philosophy Class.

How about IDers who teach in elementary & HS?

Having a supporter of Intelligent Design teach it in a molecular biology class might be a problem for me if they deviated from the material I needed to learn to get into medical school.

Might be?

I would have thought that this is what we call in economics, a non-binding constraint. What top- or even medium-flight department of biologist would ever hire a creationist?

Back in the 50s there was a dirt track raceway at Darlington, demolition derby on Sat night, roundy round race on Sun afternoon. Sit in the stands and come out lookin’ like you’d been hangin’ out in the pits. My aunt and uncle lived in Myrtle Beach. Lived next to a family named Petty who owned an auto shop.

If a computer science teacher believes the world is flat, it is a concern to all of us, because he/she is obviously incompetent and the system from which that person got his/her degree to become a teacher is flawed (unless the person suffered some kind of head injury post graduation).

If they pass tort reform they’ll make it illegal to fire doctors who refuse to stop using leeches to bleed ill humors.

We need a faith healer to lay on hands STAT.

Bay area is not known for tornadoes. How common are they?

Stay safe!

…and history teachers who refuse to stop teaching that Batman grew up in Gotham (sp?) City.

once upon a time… at least a couple of weeks ago… I was convinced we were descending into serfdom. Was quite excited about my prospects. I can produce more squash than anybody I know so I thought I might be able to trade up for a chicken or possibly a goose. Lately though, I’m beginning to think that was wildly optimistic as we seem hell-bent on destroying ourselves with greed and willful ignorance. If they are very lucky, whoever or whatever arises after us may not discover evidence of our existence. Too, too embarrassing if they did.

“HEEEAL YE! Now please see Tammy at the front to complete the insurance forms.”

Very rare.I have never heard of a warning issued before. They just canceled the watch.. Was a bit worried.. About 15 years ago we did have a small one hit down in Sunnyvale saw that one driving home from work..

There are people out there who are smarter than them who believe the opposite, too.

How the hell can you qualify to be a biology teacher and believe the earth is 5,000 years old?

When you want to find the hole in someone’s argument, look for signpost words like “Obviously” or “Clearly”. What follows is generally hand-waving rather than logic.

Gregg Levine has a fresh post up: Obama Calls on Gaddafi to Cease Fire, Allow Humanitarian Intervention

Science is about questtioning. So the questioning part isn’t the problem. The problem is that Creationists have focused on debunking evolution on the mistaken belief that somehow it proves creationism. It doesn’t. All it does is brings us back full circle. How did we get here? Why are we here? (and in the case of the rigid authoritarian conservatives the answer to THAT question appears to be: to torture the rest of you)

For the record, I believe in God. It’s quite possible to believe in a God AND embrace scientific advancements. Knowing how complex the universe is just makes me embrace faith more. (Oh and I don’t believe that faith implicitly means forcing your value system on others. I consider my relationship with God to be a very personal thing.)

Creationism belongs in a philosophy class, not a science.

Creationism belongs in a class on psychopathology.

Speaking of earth science, tomorrow’s full moon will be the closest to the earth in 18 years.

My wife is teaching AP biology and advanced biology at the local High School, and has a student who says she “doesn’t believe in evolution”. So she studies it, does poorly on tests, and moves on. I’ve told Mrs. PB that if I were teaching, I’d try to find out which facts she disputes… then test on those facts!!! No way I’d pass someone in advanced biology who thinks evolution doesn’t happen.
[to be fair, she's probably just spouting her parents' beliefs, so maybe I'd give her a break...]

I think people are entitled to their own belief sets however misguided they may be. All the way up until they start attempting to inflicting their belief sets on others. My biggest problem with creationists/fundamentalists isn’t their belief set. Instead it’s their desire to rigidly enforce that belief set on those that don’t. If indeed God gave us free will, it appears that the fundamentalists aim is to take that free will away.

Microbiology is all about evolution. Why is the girl studying it to begin with?

Correction, when you want to find a hole in someone’s argument, ask them why they think the earth is flat, then listen in awe-struck wonder at the the abyss of contorted logic or schizophrenic-induced chain of words that escape their lips.

Gotta love it! NWS says take shelter in a sturdy building and watch for hail. Wind gusts to 55mph.

I’m saying that some beliefs are pathological & creationism is one of them.

A separate point from imposing or not your beliefs on others.

I doubt that the sentient mold taking our place will even be able to see in the spectrum we’re used to so they shouldn’t have their society destroyed by austroprussianeolibcon economics.

That is my biggest problem with the fundies! Their belief that their way is the only way and try to jam it down your throat… They are Authoritarian asshole in my BOOK!

I suspect space aliens avoid this “neighborhood” for similar reasons, sixtysomething, slummin’ is one thing … but hanging around them what was totally wupped with the stupid-stick, shore ‘nuf got ta be embarrassin’ in the BIG extreme.

;~DW

Wow. Do you believe that? There is someone smarter than me, that believes there is no gravity, that the earth sucks? There is no such thing as oxygen, just “vapors of life”? The Sun orbits the Earth (okay, now you are saying the Pope is smarter than me.). As he said in 1990 (before becoming Pope):

The Church at the time of Galileo kept much more closely to reason than did Galileo himself, and she took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo’s teaching too. Her verdict against Galileo was rational and just…

I am so sick of Republicans. I used to tell myself that I didn’t know everything and so I needed to listen to the other side, but those people have nothing to offer. I still don’t know everything, but I’m convinced many times over that they don’t know anything.

I was fired from my high school because I told a student that they don’t have to worry about were wolves hunting them down to either eat them, turn them into more werewolves or **** their legs as gods punishment for premarital sex.

Apparently my school boards evangelical and my “don’t worry about werewolves punishing premarity sex” talk was against biblical doctrine.

Why are you bothering to ask a Computer Science professor (particularly in a class about something Computery or Sciencey) about the topology of the Earth? Their answer should be:

“hotdog, this is a CS class so focus on the subject matter at hand or you’re going to get another D.”

And to get into the basement… We live in an Eichler which just has a slab for a foundation… Just like most California houses NO basement… Things here in RWC have calmed way down and the wind has stopped at least for now…

Nicely put.

That’s why I get so annoyed when people here respond to trolls. Completely diverts the thread away from reality, allowing the troll to dominate the agenda. I have to leave those threads.

Are you saying you need someone to translate the phrase, “on the vast majority of subjects” for you? And in all likelihood, the Pope is smarter than you :)

Genetics, taxonomy, DNA, RNA, mRNA, on and on. Yep, I don’t get it. Probably that doctor thing – she wants to be a doctor, but doesn’t want the whole science thing that goes with it…

Geez.

Guess if my job depended on it, I’d try to avoid the topic. Not as much courage as you.

I don’t drive through the slums, areas known for having crackdens, roving bands of KKK or meth neighborhoods, so is it any surprise aliens avoid the solar system infested with retarded hillbillies?

They probably saw what happened to the roswell aliens with the same horror as we see going down to deliverance georgia and being told to squeel like a pig…SOOUUUIIIEEEEEE!

Hoping if she becomes a doc, her only patients are creationists.

Try teaching a science class and covering the planets and moons with a bunch of frightened christians who **** each other like bunnies on viagra.

Oy. Vey.

I cannot reconcile all the talk about “incompetent” teachers getting a free ride WITH allowing (or insisting that) teachers endorse myths and bible stories as reality.

* head explodes *

I don’t think I’d charecterize questioning evolution as “disease ridden.” That being said I don’t believe that creationism belongs in a science classroom. Science requires that a hypothesis be tested, the whole entire process is logical. I’m not sure how you “test” faith when by it’s very definition it’s belief in something that can’t be logically proven.

Anyway it’s interesting that you find it pathological. I’ve read that our faith may be something hardwired into us genetically. So who knows.

Here’s your quote. You’re not one of those smarter people:

For the vast majority of people (including everyone I’ve met on FDL) on the vast majority of subjects…

No matter what you believe or why you believe it, there is someone out there smarter than you who believes the opposite.

It says “no matter what you believe”. Now, if the qualifier “vast majority of subjects” then makes “no matter what you believe” only mean “some of what you believe”, your sentence loses its meaning. If you leave out all subjects which I know something about (math, chemistry, physics, computer science) then what is the point of your sentence at all? No, you are wrong. There are not people “smarter than” me who believe the opposite of me, on a “vast majority of subjects”. Just ain’t so. Name one.

Sorry about the format… I tried a couple edits, but this edit software kept messing with me! Italics are now the quote…

That’s rather unfair to philosophy, which is rigorous in its logic. Religion would be a suitable class for ID. But in public schools, it would have to be a discussion of all religions, including the beliefs of those who don’t believe in any.

Teaching about a narrow sect of Christianity inside a broader discussion of Christianity is an affront to fundamentalists; teaching it in the context of world religions is blasphemy in their eyes.

Besides this debate is not about science or teaching. It is about obtaining political power by indoctrinating young people into accepting fundamentalist values as suitable, indeed the only values, that ought to apply in government. That would overturn the values upon which this government was founded. Ironic that christianist fundamentalists are the first to berate the Muslim world for allegedly being controlled by extremist zealots.

“But teach, I was focusing on the subject at hand. In particular, the last test you handed back where I answered false to the statement “a printed circuit card assembly is populated with components filled with magic smoke, that will immediately stop working if someone lets it out.”

I didn’t realize I’d have to write things with such rigor to avoid trolling. If you’re really having trouble with it, you’ll have to find some way to get over it… it’s just not worth my time.

Consider yourself lucky that you got a D! :)

Not all that long ago, the fundie churches that I attended as a child had no problem with the theory of evolution and reconciling it the Bible. For ex, I was taught in Sunday School that Adam & Eve really existed, but the number of years ago indicated in the Bible wasn’t to be taken as “accurate” but an assessment by those who allegedly verbally passed on the scripture until it was written down by whomever.

In other words, the idea of playing “telephone” at a kids party – where you pass a brief sentence down the line of kids and end up with a completely different “last” sentence from the originating “first” sentence – was used to indicate why not to take the years listed in the Bible as “abolute truth.”

It was truth as it was spoken oh so many years ago.

Made perfect sense to me as a kid, esp in terms of the more recent ability of scientists to use tools like carbon dating to figure out the real ages of things.

HOW the “church” went from that perfectly reasonable & logical & sensible explanation – which incorporates scientific FACT with the idea of God still in the picture – to nonsensical “creationism” of today is beyond me. Albeit, per usual, I’m willing to bet the “usual” suspects are at work here: Pat Robertson, Doug Coe, David Koch, et. al.

WHY did this happen?? In order to dumb down the population and make them much more susceptible to authoritarian mind control (i.e., indoctrinate the young with only “Christianist” points of view, for one thing). JMHO of course.

There are not people “smarter than” me who believe the opposite of me, on a “vast majority of subjects”. Just ain’t so. Name one.

707!

Say it again! I never get tired of hearing it.

I especially like this argument for “ID”:

Zedler said he filed the bill because of cases in which colleges had been hostile to those who believe that certain features of life-forms are so complex that they must have originated from a higher power.

Shorter version is: If I don’t understand how something complex come to be, it must be designed by a “higher power”. The same argument has been made since the beginning of recorded history. Complex = magic!

We should remember that attacks on evolution go much further than considerations of human biology, and include the denial of the evolution of plants, other animals, the universe and the earth itself.

Regarding the latter, geology, it’s difficult to roam around the western U.S. and now be awe-struck by the earth’s evolution. Could a geologist ever be a fundie? I don’t see how.

I’ve read that our faith may be something hardwired into us genetically. So who knows.

Scientific American?? “Are We Wired for God”? ??? Great article.. A must read for all fundies..

Could a geologist ever be a fundie? I don’t see how.

A geologist could maybe be a fundamentalist, just not one who believes solely in the concept of intelligent design. There are actually ways to reconcile sciencifically proven facts with a belief in the Bible.

Sadly, that happens less and less often these days.

Exactly. In fact, if you believe in a “young earth”, there is an implicit denial of nuclear radiation and isotope half-life. The existence of nuclear power depends upon a process which is well understood – non-stable isotopes decay, and at a rate physicists understand. So well, they can build nuclear reactors, bombs, and so on. If they are wrong, then how the heck did they get the calculations right to build those reactors? If the heavy metal ore is less than 10,000 years old, how does it exist in those ratios? “Young earthers” have no explanation. And they certainly couldn’t design fission devices without that understanding.

I apologize. I took the initial remark as an insult to most FireDogLakers, as well as to myself… I really think this is a fairly smart community, and wouldn’t be here almost every day if I thought otherwise.

I’ll never forget my experience at a friend’s church youth group. The first question the young (relative term, he was probably mid-twenties, I was 12) dogma-spreader asked was, “Do you believe there was a man named Jesus Christ?” he asked me, point-blank. I stammered, yeah I guess so. What’s a kid going to say to that question when asked in front of everyone else who’s already been forced to agree to the lie? I should have said show me the evidence, but of course I wasn’t brave enough or didn’t have the absolute disdain for unethically applied group-pressure that I do now. What should be protected in schools, is kids asking their bible-thumping, whacked-out teachers “Where’s the evidence (outside the Roman Emperor conscribed bible that came 360 years after the non-fact) that there was EVER a jesus christ?”

No worries. I’m with you. I saw it as an insult as well. That was my way of saying “tell him again, it bears repeating.”

Wow, after victor piped up this went downhill fast.

When it comes to “the academy”, an institution that is built entirely on the existence of facts and reason, certain things are beyond the pale no matter what someone was teaching. There are litmus tests for basic intellectual capability and rigor that it is not possible to meet if one believes many of these things.

There are no, repeat ZERO, people alive who are smarter than me and believe in creationism. Or a flat earth. Or Christianity. Or astrology. Or anything else that’s pulled whole cloth out of the ass of a confused human with less than average intelligence.

This is one of the reasons I would be a terrible HR person or hiring manager. Belief in Christian myths and superstition is a big, blinking neon sign that says “THIS PERSON HAS NO CRITICAL REASONING SKILLS”. I could never hire someone like that, and would fire someone if I found out.

Then I’d get sued by Ken Ham.

The religious debate is not about whether Jesus existed. There is reasonable if slight evidence for that. The issue is whether he was god or man and, separately, what meaning we should give in our own lives to his teachings and the model of his life.

In the Greek and Roman worlds, the idea of god born as man wasn’t unusual. Greek gods posed as men, half-gods were born as men, Roman emperors were often deemed gods and their births were sometimes described as virginal (among the more salacious inversions in history).

What was unusual was the making of those claims about a peasant village Jewish carpenter, a type not normally included among lists of gods, emperors and heroes.

The political debate is what mattes here. Religious zealots in positions of authority over legislatures and state school boards seek to impose their beliefs on all students, to fertilize the ground of the next generation and to arrogate to themselves more power.

They may claim this debate is about intellectual and employment “fairness”. Aside from the Orwellian twist they give that term, they are really setting about to acquire earthly power. In their eyes, that is a duty required in order to bring about their god’s kingdom on earth and to open the pathway to their heaven. That’s not the kind of legislature, school board, school or society we need in America.

Thanks, EoH. Well said and to the point, as always (tip o my hat).

At the end of the day, it’s about keeping the separation of Church & State in tact. If you want your kids to learn “intelligent design,” then send them to: a) church, b) Christians schools that don’t get any public funding (good luck finding one of those), and/or c)home school them.

And put them gays back in the closet, while you’re at it…(spit on ground, clutch crotch, admire pickup truck)

Yabba-dabba-do unto others…

No basis for any pronouncements of quality or value. Patently specious.

I’d love to see a class where all religions are discussed. Perhaps we could get rid of some of the fear of the idea that people are scary/ignorant and should be feared based on their personal belief set and personal relationship/or lack thereof with God. I was heartened to see the Christians in Eygpt protecting the Muslims while they prayed. I’m less heartened by the lack of compassion I see here for women who have to/ or choose to make a difficult decision or people who have a different origin. Dobsonian Christians seem to forget the verses of the Bible that say “Judge not lest ye be judged” or “Do not point to the splinter in your neighbor’s eye when there is a beam in your own” or seem to have much faith that Lord wants us to be compassionate.

My largest problem with taking the Bible literally comes down to the concept of playing telephone. Imagine playing the game over centuries and in a variety of languages ,add in that mankind is fallible and you have a recipe for completely getting it wrong. I tend to go with my gut and instincts- which is essentially what faith is.

More than anything I admire what Jesus taught and believe in the concepts of compassion, tolerance and forgiveness, hence my claim of the name Christian. I’m not a fundamentalist though. I also don’t believe in Hell. It seems to be the antithesis of what a compassionate,loving and forgiving Entity would exile a soul to for eternity. I find it less important to determine whether or not Jesus was man or God. Maybe that’s why I have no problem excepting the belief sets of Muslims, or Hindus or Jewish people (etc, etc for other faiths) as just as likely to be valid as those of a Christian.

Faith seems like such a personal thing to me. It’s basically a relationship. It makes sense that people’s relationships might look different.

That’s a bit harsh.

So the idea someone believes Jesus was the son of God would mean someone lacked critical thinking skills? Considering a) we know that Jesus did exist and b) we know he did and taught some amazing things and c) he made the claim to be the son of God and d) his followers went on to say they saw him following his physical death. It seems perfectly logical to accept Christianity.

It seems less illogical to discount the whole entire New Testament as some sort of fairy tale(when there are many portions of it historically accurate) and anyone who believes in portions of it as being irrational.