Is Religion REALLY a Mental Illness ?

[Revoltingest]

I like your doctors. Mine just said "Well, if you don't cause harm to yourself, to others, and can take care of yourself then we don't need to call the police" The Law doesn't look between the cracks.

Although.....cops these days are more likely to check in the cracks.
https://reason.com/archives/2015/05/11/why-is-that-cops-finger-in-your-butt

You're allowed to slap me when I do things like this.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Although.....cops these days are more likely to check in the cracks.
https://reason.com/archives/2015/05/11/why-is-that-cops-finger-in-your-butt

You're allowed to slap me when I do things like this.

Ha. I'll just take your word for it.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Religion is a form of ideology. A mental illness is a psychological defect that inhibits and/or impairs normal functioning, and for the most part, causes distress in the one with the illness.
They are two totally and completely different things.

 

[Paranoid Android]

If religion is a mental illness, does that mean that, as per the tenets of Dementheology, all religious people can go to heaven?

Nope. See, were the descendants of Adam and Eve. You are the descendants of Rage, a child that was conceived by someone that raped Eve. Rage formed the Order, a secret orginzation dedicated to keeping Squares in power. Key to the power of the Order is Satan. He gave Adolf Hitler power and also possessed Adolf Hitler.
So you have made as your Master, Satan. We have made as our Master, God. You want to either kill us or keep us powerless. We want to live and want to be powerful. So, even though I think religion was started by mental illness, you HAVE seen Satan, you ARE cooperating with Satan, you're Master IS Satan.

 

[Kirran]

Nope. See, were the descendants of Adam and Eve. You are the descendants of Rage, a child that was conceived by someone that raped Eve. Rage formed the Order, a secret orginzation dedicated to keeping Squares in power. Key to the power of the Order is Satan. He gave Adolf Hitler power and also possessed Adolf Hitler.
So you have made as your Master, Satan. We have made as our Master, God. You want to either kill us or keep us powerless. We want to live and want to be powerful. So, even though I think religion was started by mental illness, you HAVE seen Satan, you ARE cooperating with Satan, you're Master IS Satan.

Well, I didn't agree to it. I suppose it's a 'sins of the father' situation though.

Seeing as every disabled person is descended from non-disabled people, wouldn't that mean they are also the descendants of Rage?

 

[Paranoid Android]

Well, I didn't agree to it. I suppose it's a 'sins of the father' situation though.

Seeing as every disabled person is descended from non-disabled people, wouldn't that mean they are also the descendants of Rage?

No. Rage was conceived by a hominid. His (Rage's father) raped eve. Adam and Eve were developmentally disabled. That is the natural state of humans.

We were born from Adam and Eve. They had several kids.

 

[Kirran]

No. Rage was conceived by a hominid. His (Rage's father) raped eve. Adam and Eve were developmentally disabled. That is the natural state of humans.

We were born from Adam and Eve. They had several kids.

Yes, right. But do you accept that disabled people have non-disabled people in their ancestry?

 

[SpeaksForTheTrees]

Back in the day, before people knew about mental illness, they often blamed it on demons, spirits et cetra. Therefore, I contend that religion IS a form of mental illness. Yes, it was a POSITIVE form of mental illness, but it was mental illness all the same.
We are often taught to address mental illness as negative.I don't believe that. I believe that mental illness has given humanity a lot of things. If you are schizophrenic, then it would be easy before there was medicine or knowledge of it, to portray what you saw as visions given by God. Some people might think that is true, but personally, I don't. I believe they were visions given by God and meant for people to understand.
I think that Squares have tried to pass it off as if it is something they created. In my opinion, it wasn't and we have to thank people with mental illness for having those visions and relating them to us.
Do you believe this is true ? Or do you view ALL mental illness as being negative ? Do you acknowledge that it was thanks to the gifts these people possessed that we have the institutions and scriptures we have today ?

I believe all including myself that have done the math and decided to stay play this crappy game out are to differing degrees narcasistic. That in itself being a mental disorder.
To a vegatarian those that eat living flesh have a mental disorder is it possible to live and survive this massacre without some kind of mental disorder? Those that are appeased by having a few quid under the mattress summat up with them id suggest by definition and by default being human involves having a mental disorder of one form or another

 

[Paranoid Android]

Yes, right. But do you accept that disabled people have non-disabled people in their ancestry?

Nope. In my opinion, we should not try to breed with you. I would not take the chance because there are aspects that I can't possibly explain to you. You don't have the experience to understand the same things I understand. Partly it is because you live by privledge that you don't even acknowledge.

 

[Kirran]

Nope. In my opinion, we should not try to breed with you. I would not take the chance because there are aspects that I can't possibly explain to you. You don't have the experience to understand the same things I understand. Partly it is because you live by privledge that you don't even acknowledge.

But PA I personally know many disabled people, including friends of mine, whose parents aren't disabled.

Also, I totally acknowledge that privilege.

 

[psychoslice]

No. Rage was conceived by a hominid. His (Rage's father) raped eve. Adam and Eve were developmentally disabled. That is the natural state of humans.

We were born from Adam and Eve. They had several kids.

Yep and all were monkeys.

 

[Musty]

You know, there was an article on Patheos about this recently that calls this notion out for the steaming pile of $#@% pucky that it is.

Why You Sound Ridiculous Claiming Religiosity is a Mental Defect

"To sum up aggregated scholarly opinion: (1) There’s zero evidence showing religious belief is the result of mental defect or a mental illness. (2) Religiosity stems from naturally-occurring, intuitive cognitive systems."​

1) There are human characteristics that appear to make the majority of the world susceptible to finding religious claims plausible, particularly if the religion is taught as being factually true from a young age. That doesn't necessarily mean we're innately prone to religiosity but rather religion as a cultural artefact has been very successful at exploiting it the way our minds work.

2) So do some forms of mental illness.


As for the claim that religion itself is a mental illness I don't believe that's the case since many religious people seem to live happy enough lives.

 

[Yoshua]

Back in the day, before people knew about mental illness, they often blamed it on demons, spirits et cetra. Therefore, I contend that religion IS a form of mental illness. Yes, it was a POSITIVE form of mental illness, but it was mental illness all the same.
We are often taught to address mental illness as negative.I don't believe that. I believe that mental illness has given humanity a lot of things. If you are schizophrenic, then it would be easy before there was medicine or knowledge of it, to portray what you saw as visions given by God. Some people might think that is true, but personally, I don't. I believe they were visions given by God and meant for people to understand.
I think that Squares have tried to pass it off as if it is something they created. In my opinion, it wasn't and we have to thank people with mental illness for having those visions and relating them to us.
Do you believe this is true ? Or do you view ALL mental illness as being negative ? Do you acknowledge that it was thanks to the gifts these people possessed that we have the institutions and scriptures we have today ?

Hi Paranoid,

There are mental illness or sickness that is medically diagnosed. I believed that God has given us spiritual gifts to expand His kingdom. Those gifts are spiritual discernment and a visionary gift. There are a lot more spiritual gifts other than this. Having a vision are usually diagnosed as mental illness.

We should be thankful with the God given gifts. But be aware with the counterfeit spiritual gifts, these are commonly seen with our own very eyes such as miracles, and signs and wonders, healing, apparitions, angelic and Jesus appearance.

Thanks

 

[Quintessence]

1) There are human characteristics that appear to make the majority of the world susceptible to finding religious claims plausible, particularly if the religion is taught as being factually true from a young age. That doesn't necessarily mean we're innately prone to religiosity but rather religion as a cultural artefact has been very successful at exploiting it the way our minds work.

2) So do some forms of mental illness.

Did you read the article linked to in full?

 

[MARCELLO]

Islam says that a good male muslim will be awarded with 72 young virgins (nothing for females) to have all the possible kinky fun in the world to come. Isn't this insane? Just imagine you are a poor male muslim who cannot even afford to marry a girl and you are told by god that there will be 72 beautiful ones waiting for you in the other side,that's how they make a suicide bomber. How could I have disagreed someone like this?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Did you read the article linked to in full?

I did. I wasn't really impressed.

His appeal to authority stood out as especially bad, especially since I *would* say that Newton (and possibly a few others on his list) *was* mentally ill. Newton was, from everything I've read about him, a paranoid, vindictive, anti-social man with major issues. I attribute this more to mercury poisoning than religion, but I thought it was hypocritical for the author to start off by condemning the "ableist" rhetoric he disagreed with and then turn around and imply that mentally ill people can't be great thinkers.

All that aside, I don't think religion (usually) reaches the point of being a mental illness.

However, I think this because I recognize that the average believer isn't a zealot. Religious affiliation is often about things like upbringing and social pressure, not about devout belief.

Rather than saying "religion is a mental illness", I'd be a bit more nuanced and say that, in general, increasing devoutness brings one closer to the threshold of mental illness.

 

[lostwanderingsoul]

maybe humans are meant to believe in religion and atheism is the mental illness because they do not have this built in need for religion

 

[Quintessence]

Rather than saying "religion is a mental illness", I'd be a bit more nuanced and say that, in general, increasing devoutness brings one closer to the threshold of mental illness.

A claim which is still not substantiated by the literature. Yes, that blog article isn't the best-written piece out there, but it's general point is still true. This connection just plain isn't substantiated any more than to suggest increasing devoutness to football brings one closer to the threshold of mental illness.

 

[Cephus]

Is religion a mental illness? No, at least not for the majority of theists. What it is though is an aberration in the mental processes that we, as a rational species, ought to have in place. It is no different than people who believe in leprechauns or Bigfoot. It is wishful thinking on a grand scale. This doesn't make them crazy in the sense that they have something biologically wrong with their brain, their insanity is self-imposed.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

A claim which is still not substantiated by the literature. Yes, that blog article isn't the best-written piece out there, but it's general point is still true. This connection just plain isn't substantiated any more than to suggest increasing devoutness to football brings one closer to the threshold of mental illness.

I think that even religious people acknowledge this, though they use langage to distance themselves from it. There's no shortage of religious people who condemn extremism and fanaticism in their own religions.

An extremist or a fanatic is just someone who places especially high importance on religion, and who applies their religion to their lives with an especially high degree of sincerity and consistency.