The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

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Jagella
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The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #1

Post by Jagella »

There are some viable theories of religious belief, and to posit that religious belief is a mental illness is one such theory.

It should be instructive to begin to discuss this theory with an analogy that should clarify that psychological disturbance underlies belief in gods and the supernatural. Let's say that I am sincerely claiming that I am in touch with powerful extraterrestrials. I say I communicate with them telepathically. I can and do ask them to use their highly-advanced technology to help me, and they grant my requests. I testify that their help to me has included their curing my illnesses and altering the weather for me. When skeptics ask about my ET friends, I explain that the skeptics need to please these ETs by accepting their existence. Otherwise, the skeptics will receive nothing from them!

It gets even better. I am certain that one day soon these ETs will arrive on earth from space with a spectacular display of their most advanced technologies. They will alter the light-refraction traits of the atmosphere to darken the sun and make the moon blood-red. They'll even make it appear that the stars are falling to the earth! And if that's not impressive enough, they will incinerate all people who have refused to believe in them with death-ray energy beams. Those of us who have faithfully followed these ETs will be teleported into their spacecraft to be taken away to live in paradise forever on their planet, Mumbo-Jumbo.

I'm crazy as anybody here, both believer and unbeliever, can clearly see. I'm very deluded. Yet, with just a few changes of the words I'm using, you can uncover basic Christian theology.

Why, then, is Christianity and other religions not mental illness?

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Re: The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #2

Post by historia »

Jagella wrote:
Why, then, is Christianity and other religions not mental illness?
Because mental illness, by definition, entails some kind of significant distress or impairment for the individual.

Religion generally doesn't entail that. In fact, there is a fairly large body of literature showing a positive correlation between religious adherence and mental health.

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Post #3

Post by Inigo Montoya »

Gullibility, fear, , wish-thinking, naivete, indoctrination, and bias are difficult to label as illnesses. It might be that the mentally ill display some of those qualities, but those qualities don't necessarily imply illness.

Between you and me, I don't think even the most fervent speaking-in-tongues holy ghosting revival thumping hallelujah screaming proselytizing scripture quoting door knocking choir singing doomsday preaching religious ape is actually mentally ill or crazy. Not really. Committed past the point of no return, but not sick.

jgh7

Re: The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #4

Post by jgh7 »

[Replying to post 1 by Jagella]

Perhaps it would help if we are all first on common ground for the definition of mental illness, and likewise for the specific mental illness that you would like to classify certain (or all) religious people as being under.

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Re: The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #5

Post by Willum »

[Replying to post 2 by historia]

Historia has an excellent point.
People who follow a religion aren't necessarily mentally ill. Though there is a peculiar ability to believe the impossible for the purpose of establishing a being that is also impossible.

However, we are also talking about J-'s person waiting for ET to come back.
Like Moses and Abraham, J-'s alter ego possesses many of the same signs as the mentally ill.

There is no reason to believe otherwise.
I will never understand how someone who claims to know the ultimate truth, of God, believes they deserve respect, when they cannot distinguish it from a fairy-tale.

You know, science and logic are hard: Religion and fairy tales might be more your speed.

To continue to argue for the Hebrew invention of God is actually an insult to the very concept of a God. - Divine Insight

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Re: The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #6

Post by JehovahsWitness »

Jagella wrote: There are some viable theories of religious belief, and to posit that religious belief is a mental illness is one such theory.
Do you have a reference for this? Are there any reputable mental health institutions or governmental authorities promoting this theory? I'd be interested in reading some peer reviewed papers on this theory.

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Re: The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #7

Post by Willum »

So as not to derail the OP:
Many respectable people (PhDs) have made analysis of moses and other as being insane:
Simply Google key-words:
moses abraham psychoanalysis site:.edu

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Re: The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #8

Post by Jagella »

historia wrote:
Jagella wrote:
Why, then, is Christianity and other religions not mental illness?
Because mental illness, by definition, entails some kind of significant distress or impairment for the individual.
In that case I was mentally ill when I was a Christian. I was intellectually impaired by Christianity's restrictions on acquiring knowledge. I was also very distressed by the doctrines I was taught about the violent, vengeful invisible man in the sky. I started having nightmares and was experiencing paranoia.

When I was experiencing these psychological problems I was warned that I might go crazy as a result of my Christian beliefs. I was told that other people have literally gone nuts being "too" Christian. And some of the people who were telling me this were other Christians!
Religion generally doesn't entail that. In fact, there is a fairly large body of literature showing a positive correlation between religious adherence and mental health.
I checked Ask.com and YouTube, and I found a lot of evidence on both sides of this issue. Some claim religious belief can be beneficial mentally, and others have come to the opposite conclusion. I think this paradox can be resolved by considering the level of religious involvement that different people experience. If a person merely attends church and prays a little bit to feel good, then she might not experience emotional trauma. If she does take her faith too seriously, then trouble may well result. Consider the Christian snake handlers. Unlike most Christians, they take Mark 16:17 literally and handle poisonous snakes and drink poison. They often die. Most Christians know better than to take their beliefs that far.

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Post #9

Post by Jagella »

[Replying to post 3 by Inigo Montoya]
Gullibility, fear, , wish-thinking, naivete, indoctrination, and bias are difficult to label as illnesses. It might be that the mentally ill display some of those qualities, but those qualities don't necessarily imply illness.
I have personally seen a lot of mental illness in religious people in the form of paranoia, depression, anger, and hostility. These symptoms are often related to their religious beliefs.
Between you and me, I don't think even the most fervent speaking-in-tongues holy ghosting revival thumping hallelujah screaming proselytizing scripture quoting door knocking choir singing doomsday preaching religious ape is actually mentally ill or crazy. Not really. Committed past the point of no return, but not sick.
In that case you are simply denying that religiosity is a mental illness. That's not a good argument.

In any event, we are not just arguing an abstract philosophical idea here. We are addressing a vital health issue. It is wrong, at least to me, to deny the evidence for an illness when recognizing that evidence can lead to effective treatment for that illness.

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Re: The Mental-Illness Theory of Religion

Post #10

Post by Jagella »

jgh7 wrote: [Replying to post 1 by Jagella]

Perhaps it would help if we are all first on common ground for the definition of mental illness, and likewise for the specific mental illness that you would like to classify certain (or all) religious people as being under.
I tried to establish an understanding of mental illness with my "ET" analogy in the OP, but so far everybody is ignoring it. In the context of this thread, I understand this form of mental illness to be a delusion that is taken very literally and seriously by the deluded person. The delusion causes a very distorted view of reality that has the ill person believing in things that are obviously not real. This delusion can end up making the person hostile toward people who don't share that belief. It goes so far as to convince the deluded person that those unbelievers should be done away with. This kind of mental illness forms the basis for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

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