PratchettFan
Gold Member
- Jun 20, 2012
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7 Reason why Religion is a Mental Disorder
(1) Hallucinations - the person has invisible friends who (s)he insists are real, and to whom (s)he speaks daily, even though nobody can actually see or hear these friends
(2) Delusions - the patient believes that the invisible person has magical powers to make them rich, cure cancer, bring about world peace, and will do so eventually if asked.
(3) Denial/Inability to learn - though the requests for world peace remain unanswered, even after hundreds of years, the patients persist with the praying behavior, each time expecting different results
(4) Inability to distinguish fantasy from reality - the beliefs are contingent upon ancient mythology being accepted as historical fact.
(5) Paranoia - the belief that anyone who does not share their supernatural concept of reality is "evil," "the devil," "an agent of Satan"
(6) Emotional abuse - religious concepts such as sin, hell, cause feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and other types of emotional "baggage" which can scar the psyche for life
(7) Violence - many patients insist that others should share in their delusions, even to the extent of using harassment and violence.
The trouble with an analysis like this, is that it can all too easily be turned around so that it is the non-believer who has a "mental disorder" or a brain mechanism that is not functioning properly. What I am observing is that unbelievers who have been threatened with hell find some relief in threatening those they see as harassing them with 'straw' mental disorders.
People may want to keep in mind that many believers live their lives without once threatening anyone with hell, but instead work to bring peace, joy, and comfort to family and friends. That is the peace and happiness we offer the world. On behalf of believers, I do apologize to everyone who has felt threatened or crushed. That is not the Gospel message we were asked to announce.
I have concluded, personally, that this tendency to assume mental issues in others based upon what they believe is really a disorder in itself. People have trouble getting the concept into their heads that other people actually exist. By that I mean, other people are separate entities rather than extensions of ourselves. If they are nothing but an extension of me, then obviously any thinking they might express which is different than my own must be a disorder. Since my own thinking is the only thinking which truly exists, anything else is out of the norm by definition.
magical thinking is a mental disorder
Really? Where would I find that in the DSM-V?