blackdog wrote:
I have a working theory though, that the general trends towards anti-intellectualism and mental laziness in this country corresponds to the strong but just-under-the-radar growth of Pentecostalism or near-Pentecostalism in this country.
Sweet Mother of Goulash you hit the nail on the head. Not only is there a rise in anti-intellectualism in the U.S but also Anti Intellectual PRIDE.

I explained it to a friend like this:
It's like when you play a game with a child. The child will break all the rules to the game and proudly declare "I win!" You ask, How did you win? You broke all the rules? To which the child replies "I win because I win."

This is what we're dealing with in Pentecostals. Their thought process is "We're right, so it doesn't matter what facts are brought against us, how illogical our belief's, how full of logical fallacy our arguments are, we're right and that's all that matters."
It's useless to fight this mentality because you can't win. You'll never win going up against a "We're right because we're right" mentality. Realizing this was a turning point for me. I used to get worked up and argue with my family and try to convince friends of the idiocy of it all, but they're operating outside the realm of fact and reason. There is no such thing as logic, rationale or debate. They're simply "right" and that's all anyone needs to know.