There was a really interesting article I read a while back, I'll see if I can find it and share it with you, that talks about some of the ways that mental health professionals work with people with strong religious beliefs. It was very insightful.

There was also a chart I came across recently, about critical thinking questions people can ask that involve the "Who, What, When, Where, Why, How" questions. I think in regards to religion, and beliefs in general whether they're political or what have you, is that there are often a lot of questions we should ask ourselves. Questions like "Are these thoughts healthy? How can I be sure? How do they affect my behavior? How do they affect how I perceive and interact with others? How do they affect how I perceive and interact with the world? Where am I coming short? How can I address them?" On and on I can go with examples.

Because beliefs, religious or otherwise, really do affect us at our core, we have to be willing to look at them deeply and critically, often, and from different perspectives and be open to new ideas and information. Echo chambers are very real and the affects they have on people are readily visible. Something as core to a person as a religious community can be a pretty powerful echo chamber indeed.

I have more thoughts, unfortunately I have to get ready to head out for the night. I might bounce back to this later this week. Interesting article. Provides a lot to think about.