I enjoyed the conversation. I write theories on human psychology and something I'm working on at the moment is the idea of a 'rationality breaking point', so the conversations that this thread spawned have been insightful. My theory is that people rationally engage with opposing ideas only insofar as the ideas that they're defending aren't a vital source of their feel-good chemicals.

A Christian will ridicule at length the idea of an elephant god, but they'll instantly end the conversation if I engage them in a conversation about Jesus' skin color. Stay at home moms will implore their kids to do well at school, but then get angry when presented with evidence of Dr Oz being a snake oil salesman. Progressives will harp on religious people for scientific ignorance, but then they'll intentionally misrepresent statistics to create the illusion of gender discrimination against women.

Everyone (say above IQ 80 or so) is capable of logical reasoning, but very few are real altruists and objectivists. Most are opportunists waiting to be exposed, one just needs to know which questions to ask.