2014.09 Opinion: The Value of Critical Thinking

Prof. Charles Negy evidently had a lot of pushback in his first class on “Cross-Cultural Psychology” and took the time to write an open letter to his student body (University of Central Florida) about it.

Excerpts:

One characteristic of the critical, independent thinker is being able to recognize fantasy versus reality; to recognize the difference between personal beliefs which are nothing more than personal beliefs, versus views that are grounded in evidence, or which have no evidence.

Last class meeting and for 15 minutes today, we addressed “religious bigotry.” Several points are worth contemplating:

Religion and culture go “hand in hand.” …

Students in my class who openly proclaimed that Christianity is the most valid religion, as some of you did last class, portrayed precisely what religious bigotry is. Bigots—racial bigot or religious bigots—never question their prejudices and bigotry.