Bill D - I am no seminarian, and not any expert on theology, but as far as I know theology as taught in the seminary requires a good deal of critical thinking. It's not just a list of what to believe but also a study of how the various 'Church fathers' as they are known, came to those conclusions and where we can go from there. (Joe might correct me on that, if I'm off target).

There seems to be an assumption that being a Christian means not having to think, to having all your thinking done for you through a list of rules and rituals. All I can say is that hasn't been my experience and it has thrown me into crisis many a time because it demanded that I re-evaluate my whole world view, often seeming to fly in the face of commonsense. But the pieces do fall together bit by bit and a larger picture emerges.

I agree with LH though that often school etc., doesn't really teach critical thinking. But this is a malady across all human institutions, which often aim to reproduce their own ethos simply by rote and drill. If it were otherwise, the cops who ahng around with water cannon, dogs and video cameras at every peace march / anti-war protest might shake their heads and ask themselves "Hey, wait A minute, what are we doing here? These guys are on OUR side and the side of our children!!" and put down their batons. It has happened before in history when events pushed people to question the conventional 'wisdom'.