I think critical thinking is an act of love.  It is not seen as one in the church because this same thinking can lead one away from the faith or at the very least make one stand up to figures of authority.  But there are so many contexts where critical thinking is desperately needed.  If you are doing a water project in Africa and the engineering or follow-up planning is wrong, it will fail no matter how much good intention, prayer, etc.. put into it.

There is a beautification of intuition in the church (as it came to one “off the cuff” it must have been from the Holy Spirit).  There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just when this way of divining what should be done becomes the primary way it shuts out often-wiser conclusions formed through critical thinking.

More often than not, solutions employed after using critical thinking involve taking actions that take more perspectives into account.   This makes it the preferred medium for taking into account disadvantaged minorities.