ignoring too many externals, but like some other papers that have been touted in recent months, it’s getting wide play by the Left to “prove” again how conservatives are somehow inherently intellectually inferior.

So where do I go for my armband?

-The sane Left-

The article would seem to support the general interpration that having strongly-held beliefs is stressful on the brain and wears it down, if it weren’t for the researchers’ specific mention of “spiritual practices and life-changing religious experiences”.

They’re definitely talking about religion, but actually I would also conclude that it’s the stress of having a strongly-held belief system that’s outside the majority that “abrades” the brain over time.

So yes, political partisans tend to deteriorate mentally over time. Ever had to deal with an 85 year old rightwing fanatic? It’s like pinging a Heechee pouch.

In the context of this study, which I looked up, the belief parameters themselves seem to be the issue, not the subject.

I could think of several more questions one could have asked of the participants that might have broadened the conclusions considerably.

Somehow, they can’t seem to grasp the concept that ALL religions are stupid.

Evangelism gets used a lot outside of Christianity to denote, by analogy, pushing a set of beliefs with the object of conversion. That’s no different than the present fashion for the loose use of “jihad” and “crusade” outside of their original religious context. But it doesn’t negate the essentially religious character of all these terms.