Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I understand what you are saying, but I take great umbrage with the classification. The failure to apply canons of evidence, or the mistaken interpretation of correlation does not stem from a "mental deficiency". As a matter of fact, we intuitively make these sorts of errors quite regularly and primarily subconsciously in day-to-day life. The appeal to religious experience as a measure of ones certainty is a product of one's ability to construct a cohesive narrative of cause and effect to make sense of his or her own life. This is not a deficiency. If anything, it is a well honed, well developed survival instinct.
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Right, but we're not talking about the decision making process of day to day life and the cognitive dissonance of being on a diet and buying a chocolate bar.
We were talking specifically about a certainty as it pertains to an intimate understanding of 'God'.
Generally, we refer to these people as zealots. I don't think it's any kind of leap in logic to associate religious zealotry with a deficiency in the mental/reasoning makeup of an individual.