Being Religious Does Not Mean You Are Mentally Ill

Because someone has delusions of speaking to a divine being does not mean they are mentally ill.

Because someone has hallucinations where they believe this being sends them "signs" in the form of things otherwise viewed as coincedental does not mean they are mentally ill.

Because logical explanations of said events appear to be illogical or incoherent does not mean they are mentally ill.

Going to a place of worship for this divine being and behaving in an irrational and hyperactive ritualistic pattern on a regular basis does not mean that they are mentally ill.

I have included this image to clear up any misconceptions you may have:

Disclaimer: My main point here is not that theists should be locked up or medicated, only to highlight the similarities between what we typically diagnose as a mental illness and refer to as a religion.

I fixeded your image.



I have nothing better to do until 10pm.

Boy you guys are too much...


Because we see miracles like cancer being cured through prayers, doesn't mean we are mentally ill


Because 2000 years of saints bore stigmata, raised the dead, and seen literally miracles, doesn't mean we are mentally ill

Because the body has so many specific body-parts and uses doesn't mean we are mentally ill


because we are the perfect distance from the sun and have the perfect amount of gravity doesn't mean we are mentally ill


because the trinity is literally implanted on our torso doesn't mean we are mentally ill


because we choose to love the one who came in the flesh and worked miracles doesn't mean we are mentally ill



Miracle are real son, Ive seen them, millions have, and God watches our every moment, I know this for a fact from what I've seen.

I'm completely sane.

But you know whats insane?

People who don't give anything a chance. I look at them like robots, drones who just wont give God a chance.

Christians this stuff should bounce off of you like a man wearing a metal suite and someone throwing a rubber ball at you.

don't listen to this....

peace

[edit on C:/120130557939America/ChicagoFri, 25 Jan 2008 17:59:39 -060039/Jan by JesusisTruth]

No, being religious does not mean you are mentally ill. Being an extremist means you are mentally ill though

reply to post by JesusisTruth


If you have all these observable episodes, please conduct a scientific study.

Watch these 2 videos:

www.youtube.com... (Explains why prayer doesn't and can't work)

and

www.youtube.com... (James Randi debunking 2 miracle workers; a healer and a psychic)

Superstition: An irrational belief that a magical object (God) or action influences the outcome of events.

You are superstitious.

James Randi? really? There is no proof available to you that goes against the existence of a god.

It seems that 99.9 % of the world are mentally ill. And non-believers are not. Wow... How special. How convenient.

It's a good marketing strategy to sell more psycho drugs though. More bucks for the pharma.

Ho hum...

....snip.... only to highlight the similarities between what we typically diagnose as a mental illness and refer to as a religion.

This is a logical fallacy. Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Examples:

"I can't help but assess religious people as delusional because they exhibit similarities of a mental illness characteristic of schizophrenia. This makes it clear that they need professional psychiatric help."



"I can't help but think that you are the cause of this problem; we never had any problem with the furnace until you moved into the apartment." The manager of the apartment house, on no stated grounds other than the temporal priority of the new tenant's occupancy, has assumed that the tenant's presence has some causal relationship to the furnace's becoming faulty."


Edit : more added comments and examples

[edit on 25-1-2008 by amitheone]

reply to post by JesusisTruth


I merely fixed his img tags, I care not what crazy beliefs one has.

I'm in no way, shape, or form a religious person, but I found something from that video posted by RedDragon interesting. The first verse quoted from the bible says "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have recieved it, and it will be yours." That sounds a lot like a manifestation, which I can tell you firsthand, works. Obviously I don't have any bias here, I don't know a lot about religion, but I know about manifesting. Whether or not it's "God" answering your prayers, or you simply putting the intent into the universe and getting it back, there's not much difference. Just a thought.

Originally posted by JesusisTruth
Boy you guys are too much...


Because we see miracles like cancer being cured through prayers, doesn't mean we are mentally ill

you see it, yet you can't prove it....

Because 2000 years of saints bore stigmata, raised the dead, and seen literally miracles, doesn't mean we are mentally ill

and there's absolutely no proof of any of that iether

Because the body has so many specific body-parts and uses doesn't mean we are mentally ill

nope, it just means evolution is great

because we are the perfect distance from the sun and have the perfect amount of gravity doesn't mean we are mentally ill

actually, that's not true. there's actually a "zone" that we could be in for life to develop. it's not an exact orbit
and the gravity...well, life could develop in less gravity, more gravity, and absolutely crushing pressures... so it's very likely to arise in many, many places

because the trinity is literally implanted on our torso doesn't mean we are mentally ill

MajorMalfunction has already addressed this better than i could, just look at her response to you

because we choose to love the one who came in the flesh and worked miracles doesn't mean we are mentally ill

well, there's no proof of his historicity or miracles...

Miracle are real son, Ive seen them, millions have, and God watches our every moment, I know this for a fact from what I've seen.

stop calling people son....
now, show me evidence of these miracles, and i shall believe

I'm completely sane.

really?

But you know whats insane?

the puddle thinking the pothole it is in was created specifically for it.

People who don't give anything a chance. I look at them like robots, drones who just wont give God a chance.

now you're stereotyping. i've given god a chance, most atheists would jump onto the god wagon as soon as they were given evidence... but they have no evidence so they won't jump into that belief system

don't listen to this....

no, listen to it
listen to the voice of reason

Originally posted by amitheone
It seems that 99.9 % of the world are mentally ill. And non-believers are not. Wow... How special. How convenient.

as convenient as you pulling numbers out of your rear.

www.adherents.com...

Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion

so 17% of the world is non-religious...
that means that only 83% of the world is religious instead of your "99.9%"

It's a good marketing strategy to sell more psycho drugs though. More bucks for the pharma.

Ho hum...

deflection!

....snip.... only to highlight the similarities between what we typically diagnose as a mental illness and refer to as a religion.

This is a logical fallacy. Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

i don't think that means what you think it means

there is no problem in causation here. religious people do exhibit the same symptoms as the insane... there's no
A happened, then B happened
therefore A caused B

that's post hoc ergo propter hoc

this is "A shares similarities to B, therefore this correlation may mean that A and B are essentially the same thing"

see, this has nothing to do with order of events...

Playing with words is fun! I can do it too:

An insane person would be someone who's mind is not functioning like a normal mind.

A normal mind would be one that fits the average bill for humanity- what most normal people have.

Most normal people (ie. on average- taken from the some 6 billion population of the earth) are religious.

Therefore, non-religious people are insane!


See?


On a more serious note, if someone truly actually believes that religious people are insane, they are probably insane themselves, or are inordinately nasty.

If being religious means that you are insane, you better withdraw from society, because most of us are off our rocker.

If being 'sane' means that you ONLY accept what you can physically SEE, HEAR and TOUCH and SMELL, then I'm happy to free myself from such silly limitations.

[edit on 26-1-2008 by babloyi]

What a bizarre topic I have never heard the accusation that religious people are mental ill that is unless spreading intolerance and denying proven facts is a mental illness . All of which leads to the reason why this thread puzzles me as an Atheist I agree with the sentiment that extremists are mentally ill but otherwise I have never regarded people of faith to be mentally ill.

So then why is the denial required ?

well, i've noticed that my religious friends act mentally ill with regard to certain things. when i bring up certain arguments, they get disproportionately mad... as if i'd just smacked their mother with a baseball bat.

the behaviors associated with religion that can be seen as somewhat "mentally ill" seem to be compartmentalized. you wouldn't see them in the day-to-day life of the person, until the holy day.

Whats an extremist? faith is faith...

madness they get mad becase your mocking their Christ whom you have not disproved like we havent proved...


Red Dragon

" you are supersticiuos "

yea ofcourse, please. You have not seen what I have. Like I said not only did I see cnacer cured through prayer, something that doesnt work according to a goofball in a youtube video....

But millions of saints seen what I have. Wheres the proof? Their lifestories are, their eye witnesses, I have seen these things myself....


you will see shortly how supersticious it is..



Babloyi

You get it. thats right. and you know why billions of people believe in God?

because the know hes real by the incredible creation and the things they hve seen God do in their lives like I have.


I never grew up religious so this doesnt include those who grew up in a faith only....




Madness. man you just dont get it.

" you see yet you cant prove "

What? that doesnt make sense, if I see cnacer being cured, and the doctors say it is, what else proof is needed? This is one of the many things my family has seen and I.

show some sincerity. You know what a sincere person says? wow youve actually seen that, thats pretty incredible.....


" and theres no actualy proof of that either "

yes there are all of their family members eye witness, thei pastors, preist, historical documents, blood tests, and I have seen what they have madness, so you can think whatever you want.....


" nope just means evolution is great "

Yeap, just means those body parts have uses specifically, and NOTHING cant do that good. I mean you have to be blind to not see that....


" actually thats not true "


Yea but if you change these parameters by alittle we would freeze or burn to death... and what I mean about gravity, is that we dont jump too high or we are not stuck to earth... Its perfect..


" Major mal "

Not he didnt disprove it. He said that the cross shape didnt mean anything, but he did agree that the 3 points were there.

The fact that scripture says, Jesus sits at my right hand. Madness God doesnt have hands..... Its to signify this mystery, and he choose to reveal it on BTS for some reason, I wish people would spread it.... This madness is an incredibly truth thats being revealed to you guys in this time.


" listen to the voice of reason "

No, its the voice of athiesm aleteist. Relious people are insane. Its false...



peace.

An extremist is someone who tries to hijack society like the Christian Taliban or militant Atheists.

Where did you get the idea that all Atheists think that religious people are mentally ill ?

I guess its just another false hood that some people of faith will choose to believe .

I didnt say all athiest.

There might be some who (because they havent disproved God) that keep an open mind of him...

Just some do...

And the original poster in his arrogant sarcastic manner just feeds to this...


also I do agree about the militants, they are hypocrites.


peace.

JesusisTruth sorry I should have directed the comment at the author of the thread and not you. There is a difference between being open minded and subscribing to a system that relies on faith rather then facts.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul

so 17% of the world is non-religious...
that means that only 83% of the world is religious instead of your "99.9%"

It is not suppose to be an accurate assessment of the statistical figure and since majority of the world are religious, therefore, I assumed a ballpark figure of 99.9% to represent the majority of religious people in a figurative manner.

As the figure of 17% suggests, still gives the representation of non-religious persons as being in the minority.

17% of non-religious persons is highly inaccurate to suggest that non of them suffers a *diagnosed* mental illness that requires prescription drugs as indicated by their doctors.

Whether religious or not, it is but part of the population which suffers such illness, as with influenza and has nothing to do with beliefs. It is irrelevant and immaterial as what you have suggested below:

.. religious people do exhibit the same symptoms as the insane...

I respect this as your own personal opinion based on your opposition to religion and not based on a professional psychiatrist's overall evaluation in what constitutes a mental illness.

Having such a personal opinion will constitute the unnecessary distribution of prescription drugs for mental illness to the 83% religious populace of the world. By just the utterance of "I believe in a god" will all justify a person for being mentally ill and the drug administered without due diagnosis.

However, this is just a fantasy scenario with non-believers. In reality, whether or not you prescribe a person who utters "I believe in a god" with drugs, will not stop him from saying, "I believe in a god" nor suppress his faith.

On the other hand, you'll suppress the symptoms of a genuine mentally ill persons with these drugs. They provide temporary relief which they badly needed.

this is "A shares similarities to B, therefore this correlation may mean that A and B are essentially the same thing"

It is the same thing as saying a cat and a dog have eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, brain, stomach, feet, and tail. A cat and dog shares similarities, therefore this correlation are essentially the same thing.

Therefore, by your logic, a cat and a dog are the same animal.

By the same reasoning, every time we see a red wall, since blood is also red, they are essentially the same thing. Therefore the red wall was painted in blood.

By the same reasoning, every time we see a religious folk exhibiting similarities as the mentally ill, they are essentially the same. Therefore religious folks are mentally ill that requires treatment from a psychiatrist.

Ignoratio Elenchi.

Originally posted by JesusisTruth

Yea but if you change these parameters by alittle we would freeze or burn to death... and what I mean about gravity, is that we dont jump too high or we are not stuck to earth... Its perfect..

But gravity is a non-factor in this discussion. Gravity has nothing to do with religion. Neither does the distance between the earth and sun. These factors are "perfect" for us to live on this planet. I fail to understand the relevance of that to this discussion.

We can exist on this planet because the gravity and temperature are right. It doesn't work the other way around... the gravity and temperature are not what they are so that we can live here.