The next time someone jumps your case about being a Christian, stand tall and tell them, "It's not my fault."

You are simply the product of environmental isolation and information deprivation. You were raised to believe in God, and you have not availed yourself of much in the way of knowledge. You were fated to be a believer.

This, at least, is the opinion of Mr. David Niose. Writing in a September 12, 2011 post for Psychology Today, Mr. Niose explains that one can't really help being an unbeliever - a secularist. If one has had a good deal of education and tends to get out and about, he will be a secularist. On the other hand, if one is raised in a closed family environment where religion is favored, if not practiced, and is kept from any real education, well, it's religion for you, pal.

In the end, according to Mr. Niose, "none of us can ultimately choose what we truly believe or don't believe." The secular person is environmentally wired for unbelief: "personal secularity is primarily the result of brain function combined with access to knowledge, information, and a social setting allowing disbelief."

On the other hand, religious people are just plain dumb: "If more individuals today are religious skeptics than in centuries past, that is mainly because accumulated knowledge has inclined more people toward such doubt."

This is why, Mr. Niose explains, Christians want to forbid the teaching of evolution and mandate Christianity and traditional marriage, because they know implicitly they need to control the environment in order to keep them converts comin'.

Secularists, on the other hand, "try to increase access to accumulated knowledge, encourage critical thinking, and create a social environment that does not scorn secularity." This is why secularists are so adamant about promoting reading of Scripture and exposure to the great cultural heritage of the Christian faith in their secular schools.

Or did I get that wrong?

Mr. Niose sums up: "Thus, although causation is always complex and the specifics are going to vary from one individual to the next, in general we find two interesting patterns with regard to the formation of religious belief and disbelief. That is, the major environmental factor that promotes disbelief (and discourages belief) tends to be accumulated knowledge, whereas the most significant environmental factor in promoting belief (and discouraging disbelief) tends to be family and social indoctrination."

Yes, those are very interesting patterns. It's just that they aren't true.

I'll put Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Calvin, and Edwards up against Mr. Niose any day.

I should remind readers that Christians are the ones normally accused of being closed-minded, simplistic in their thinking, and prone to stereotype others. Secularists would never do such a thing.

I hope that Mr. Niose and others of his ilk continue writing for magazines and websites like Psychology Today. As Solomon explained, "A fool's mouth is his ruin" (Prov. 18.7).

Don't let the bells, whistles, and Ph.D.s fool you; behind that curtain of bluster and pseudo-sophistication, there is a fool whose nonsensical notions, if he continues to urge him, will be his undoing.

Sooner or later.

A conversation starter: "Psychologists tell us that Christians are ingrown and ignorant. Can that be true?"

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.