Hi Chris.
I'm a bit new here myself. Critical thinking is something very important to me, and from what I've seen from the conversations so far, this is a good place for quality discussions.
I don't want to go off-topic of your intro, but as far as critical thinking is concerned, I'm currently reading Joseph Atwill's book Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus :Flavian Signature Edition and find it intriguing in many ways (mostly because professional story-analysis is one of the services I offer). I'm only offering that bit of info because I think you will find that the community here is quite well-read, and if you need Socratic discussion on any topic, this will be a good venue.
Or at least that's my opinion of the community so far.
It's a pleasure to meet you, and I look forward to future discussions.
Buck