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Do some atheists still thin Religion is a mental illness?
06-22-2014, 08:05 PM
Post: #1
Do some atheists still thin Religion is a mental illness?
A few days ago, in a post on faith healing, American Atheists president Dave Silverman wrote: “We must recognize religion as brainwashing. We must recognize the (hyper) religious as mentally damaged.”

He’s not the first to equate religion with mental illness or “mental damage.” Bill Maher has called religion “a neurological disorder.” Sam Harris wrote in The End of Faith, “it is difficult to imagine a set of beliefs more suggestive of mental illness than those that lie at the heart of many of our religious traditions.” Facebook groups claiming religion is a “mental disorder” or “mental disease” boast hundreds of members, and a list of “7 reasons why religion is a form of mental illness” has been shared on a number of atheist blogs.

It seems clear to me that religion isn’t a form of mental illness, and that calling it one reflects a shallow understanding of both mental illness and religion—or, worse still, a knowing attempt to use mental illness as an insult.

While this discussion is worthy of lengthy consideration, I consulted with two atheist activists and compiled five reasons atheists should avoid this problematic parallel:


http://chrisstedman.religionnews.com/201...l-illness/
Save The Planet - you do not seem intelligent enough to be on here
DogofMan - is it possible you may have been programmed to think that way
Spam Mohan - your answer was silly and hateful (as usual)
Sans Deity - you appear to be delusional - you seem to be hallucunating
Sirensong sunshine - your beliefs seem ridiculous - you seem to have programmed
Alex - Sans the Mercy - who mentioned crackers and wine lol? You are wasting your life with these crazy delusions - get help
Spencer - you're mind seems a little dazed and confused
Kal Alvar - censorship and sketicism is much more common with atheists/materialists.

Jea - you mean secular indoctrination right?
Ricardo - you seem to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic

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06-22-2014, 08:13 PM
Post: #2
 
absolutely

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06-22-2014, 08:23 PM
Post: #3
 
Yes, for sure. It makes people spell poorly too.
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06-22-2014, 08:37 PM
Post: #4
 
No it's just very strong conditioning.

If people can be programmed then there is no free will, which invalidates your ideas. You couldn't program a being with free will.
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06-22-2014, 08:50 PM
Post: #5
 
I'm not going to click your link. But I don't believe religion is a mental illness. Neither would be believing in imaginary friends. It would be silly, yes.Sometimes hateful and violent, yes. But not quite an illness.
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06-22-2014, 08:58 PM
Post: #6
 
Pardon me to say so.... Initially spiritual practice are for your well being... and ever these days heu... there seem to be some confused ones...
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06-22-2014, 09:05 PM
Post: #7
 
I think that people who criticize our beliefs (regardless of what they are) are the ones with the mental illness.
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06-22-2014, 09:12 PM
Post: #8
 
Atheism is a mental illness.

Mental illness: An abnormal state of mind that causes a difficulty to function in society.

So Atheism is an illness. This means that Atheists like Dawkins, are like amputees, furiously waving their stumps around, screaming about how superior they are to us non-amputees.

There's also the fact that Christians live longer, happier, more moral lives than Atheists. Oh, and Heaven. That's a sweet bonus.

Jesus loves.
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06-22-2014, 09:22 PM
Post: #9
 
Yes. Just because a bunch of people accept a common delusion about fairy tales and invisible magical beings being real doesn't make it any less mentally ill.

You would probably have no issue with calling an adult with an imaginary friend who talks to them and does magical things for their benefit mentally ill. Unless they simply named their imaginary friend "God", then suddenly it's different.
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06-22-2014, 09:33 PM
Post: #10
 
I have suffered from a mental illness: depression.

It was as part of the treatment from depression that I finally threw of the lingering 'spiritual' thoughts I had. I'm freer and happier now.

I think for some people it's hard to fathom how holding a belief that is patently so ridiculous, so without foundation, so lacking in any evidence that the only possible cause must be some kind of deficiency. But this is what childhood indoctrination does: it normalizes the extraordinary.
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