Shimrod... it is indeed propaganda, but very few of the serious propangandists understand and admit what they are doing. Emotionally and psychologically, they **believe**.      

   Whether it is because of generations of being raised with the 'fear of God' hovering over them, or being converted as adults by something like "Pascals Wager" (assuming that believing is the safest bet), their defense begins (as Pete admits) with belief... and therefore they MUST accept some degree of logical fallacy in order to remain faithful.
   It is just fascinating (to me anyway) that part of being human includes the ability to deny the obvious and accept the incredible.

Fake moon landings, flat earth, ghosts, Tarot cards, astrology, phrenology, elves, reincarnation, and a host of 'interesting' superstitions are all an aspect of having a brain that can conceive of such things. It is, frankly, much more 'work' to sort thru the odd claims and keep a genuinely open mind. It is much easier to just nod and adopt a few cultural variants of obvious historical meanderings.... even among some of the supposedly most 'intelligent'. Intelligence can be used to construct clever, convoluted defenses of non-scientific concepts.

I debate Pete and others... I also try as best I can to 'see' what is at work in their world that sends them in certain directions.... and some of those directions have positive aspects, no matter what we feel about their basis.