... that quite a bit of people who are religious also believe in things like ancient aliens, ghosts, 2012 predictions, that vaccines cause autism, climate change is a hoax, etc. and a lot of, most I'd argue, non believers... don't?
I think there's a lot more to this correlation than what there appears to be on the surface...
Another thing that I've noticed is those same kinds of people tend to misspell words or use lowercase letters when they should be capitalized, grammatical errors, they don't proof read, they don't know the correct usage of homophones (they're, their, there).
So what do you guys think when you come across a person like this? What's the best way to get that person to realize their mistakes? Usually they get upset, if you tell them they've committed a logical fallacy or spelled a word incorrectly or whatever, I've seen people do it in the least personal way possible and the other person would still take offense. What's with the automatic defensive response most people have?
I think you are basing your view on the experience in this forum. I can think of many, many people who have perfect grammar and and hold no supernatural beliefs, yet have no doubt about God. I can also think of several atheists who are not the best spellers and fully believe in Bigfoot or ESP.
As I have said before, believers to me fall into three categories. Of course this leaves out the mentally ill.
Those who just haven't thought about it, the lazy. These people want the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. "I believe in God but can't explain why".
Those who have thought about it but not avoided mistakes, the uninformed. These people have never learned the correct way to evaluate and judge evidence. They are unwitting hypocrites. "I believe in god because of these logical mistakes I made".
And those who have thought about it, do not pretend that the world offers any sort of answers, yet believe anyway, The inconsistent. "I don't claim we have ANY good reason to believe in god, yet I have no doubt he exists". These people would not take a drug simply because others believed in it, they would want some sort of testing and evidence that it was not harmful. They inexplicably give god a pass.
All three can have different attitudes, and of course some people are a combination. I personally have the least problem with the third category. This is a person I can agree to disagree with, provided of course that they remember their place when it comes to policy making and education. In fact, I can tolerate all three positions if they do not intrude.