I was already going to respond simply that your friend believes these things because they want to believe them. They have to want to be rational.
As for me, I don’t put rationality above all things, because I think it can be something you delude yourself into both idolising and thinking you’re attaining; you can become something like a paperclip maximiser because you’ve convinced yourself it’s logical. After having been something of a virulent atheist rationalist many years back, I realised that many of the people on my ‘side’ were in fact narrow-minded and often heartless gits, and some of the religious folk were warm, funny, and very open-minded; faith for them was more of a matter of how they wanted the world to be, a matter of aesthetics and drive.
So, basically, if your heart’s not in the right place, who cares how rational/right you think you are? That certainly applies to your friend.
I was already going to respond simply that your friend believes these things because they want to believe them. They have to want to be rational.
As for me, I don’t put rationality above all things, because I think it can be something you delude yourself into both idolising and thinking you’re attaining; you can become something like a paperclip maximiser because you’ve convinced yourself it’s logical. After having been something of a virulent atheist rationalist many years back, I realised that many of the people on my ‘side’ were in fact narrow-minded and often heartless gits, and some of the religious folk were warm, funny, and very open-minded; faith for them was more of a matter of how they wanted the world to be, a matter of aesthetics and drive.
So, basically, if your heart’s not in the right place, who cares how rational/right you think you are? That certainly applies to your friend.