“Creationists and conspiracy theorist share the same cognitive error.” As a person of faith, headlines like that grab my attention. I’m not a conspiracist … but I am a creationist. I see evidence everywhere that a masterful, all-powerful designer engineered and created this amazing cosmos we live in. I wondered what my “cognitive error” might be. A recent study by the University of Fribourg has kindly identified my mental deficiency as “teleological thinking.” And the authors of the study do believe it is a cognitive deficiency. Here are a few quotes …- “This kind of thinking leaves people prone to some grossly erroneous beliefs”
- “Such thinkers are often ill-equipped to comprehend basic scientific facts.”
- “This type of thinking is anathema to scientific reasoning and especially evolutionary theory
So what is this awful aberration known as teleological thinking? According to the Fribourg study, “a powerful cognitive bias which entails the perception of final causes and overriding purpose in naturally occurring events and entities.” In other words, if you believe that there is a creator, purpose or goal to our universe, you are guilty of erroneous thinking.
It’s interesting that the researchers identify this as “a powerful cognitive bias.” In fact, at one point they accuse creationist of “confirmation bias” … “the tendency to interpret new evidence as validation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.”
So, a group of people who have decided that a Creator cannot possibly exist and that there is no ultimate purpose to the universe … do a study “revealing” that everyone who interprets the evidence differently is guilty of fallacious thinking? Evolutionary theorists have closed the door on any meaningful debate and labeled all dissenters as mentally deficient … or willfully blind. Their stance is indeed a powerful cognitive bias, one that is anathema to scientific reasoning. Read carefully, think deeply, respectfully challenge unconfessed bias and non sequitur reasoning. Don’t be bullied into silence … or out of your faith.
