Critical thinking or fault finding?

Once I had an argument, a discussion about belief system, ah yes, religion.
Unwise topic to argue upon as many wars have been fought without any winner with only humanity as a sure loser.
It brought up a quite a interesting view of which has intrigued me ever since. It was about being critical and using a critical mind on observing the world around us.

What is being critical? A deeper question that I had imagined, is it just a mere expression of thoughts that simply shoot down ideas or beliefs, or even a fault finding mission on everything that is said or written.
Is being critical simply being a non-conformist to opinions or ideas of others?
Is a person that doesn't agree to the norms of the society, the century old traditions and dogmas , a critical thinker?
Quite interesting enough, ever since we were young during formal education, we are asked to think. Think about solving a problem , a riddle, a test , question but interesting enough the most important part of thinking , which is how, is quite often left out or not emphasised.
Thinking or even thinking critically ,has a far more deeper defination than that I've had put forwad earlier.
Critical thinking as defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987A is ;
Is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.
Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful manipulation of ideas in service of one’’s own, or one's groups’’, vested interest.
As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually, though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish use. Source :http://www.criticalthinking.org

So, as I had mentioned earlier, far more deeper meaning and as I observe , the term critical thinking is far often abused and missused by individuals that seek to satisfy themselves with pseudo-victory of an argument for arguments sake.
I think......