[kibibu]

> The heavy downvoting of the GP, which was a well-written, thoughtful comment, demonstrates a close-mindedness and refusal to engage with (or even consider) ideas which one disagrees with

You could also have a well-written, thoughtful comment about how vaccination is a Government mind-control device - I suspect it would be no more welcome than one suggesting the biblical genesis story contains the truth about chromosomes.

Many of us have engaged with these ideas, found them wanting, found their advocates to be essentially unmoved by reason, and now are happy enough filtering them out.

(I am also happy enough being filtered out, as it happens)

[alphapapa]

That's a false analogy. For example, there is plenty of scientific research showing that vaccination is effective in preventing disease, as well as historical data. However, science cannot disprove the existence of God, nor can it disprove the idea that the universe was created by an intelligent entity.

You are also generalizing about advocates of religion. Study history and you will find that there are many, many people throughout history who were very reasonable and also believed in God. In fact, such people are found extensively in the history of all kinds of sciences, including the formation of science itself.

And besides that, whether people who believe a certain thing are reasonable is immaterial to the question of whether what they believe is true. There are both sane and insane people who believe things which are true, as well as reasonable and unreasonable people, friendly and unfriendly, etc.

You are not being reasonable by being so heavily prejudiced against religion. On the contrary, you are actually being unreasonable.