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Kathleen Taylor, a neurologist at Oxford University, said that recent developments suggest that we will soon be able to treat religious fundamentalism and other forms of ideological beliefs potentially harmful to society as a form of mental illness.
Taylor admits that the scope of what could end up being labelled "fundamentalist" is expansive. She continued: "I am not just talking about the obvious candidates like radical Islam or some of the more extreme cults. I am talking about things like the belief that it is OK to beat your children. These beliefs are very harmful but are not normally categorized as mental illness. In many ways that could be a very positive thing because there are no doubt beliefs in our society that do a heck of a lot of damage, that really do a lot of harm."
PHILADELPHIA — A judge upheld murder charges Wednesday against a fundamentalist Christian couple in their infant’s faith-healing death, saying things might be different if their toddler hadn’t died four years ago “under strikingly similar circumstances.”
Their probation in that case required Herbert and Catherine Schaible to seek immediate medical help if another child was sick or injured. But they instead prayed over 8-month-old son Brandon before he died of pneumonia in April, according to their police statements.
The term faith healing is best known in connection with Christianity. A number of its adherents interpret the Bible, particularly the New Testament, as teaching belief in - and practice of - faith healing. They claim that faith alone can cure blindness, deafness, cancer AIDS, development disorders, anemia among other diseases.
Thus when one is afflicted by any of these diseases, they would rather wait for divine intervention to cure them instead of seeking medical help in hospital.
Originally posted by chrismarco
reply to post by Guenter
that's a bit over the top..I'm sure their are plenty of sane religious people you know...the same argument can be made for people who believe in aliens or ghosts...we shouldn't be telling people what they should and should not believe in...if they are a threat to you religion may be part of the problem but I suspect there are other mental health issues going on that trump the religion...
Originally posted by luciddream
Its more of a mental addiction then a an illness.
Its a drug to ease the burden of the world or to hide from the reality of the world.
.I think this will make it more difficult for religious people to feel or be accepted in society.
Originally posted by MystikMushroom
reply to post by ATSmediaPRO
I read this on reddit this morning.
This almost feels like "atheist extremism". Anytime anyone goes to far with their beliefs and becomes radicalized, it's detrimental for us all.
Originally posted by luciddream
Its more of a mental addiction then a an illness.
Its a drug to ease the burden of the world or to hide from the reality of the world.
Originally posted by luciddream
Its more of a mental addiction then a an illness.
Originally posted by NOTurTypical
We'll soon be a protected class. Those who are areligious will need to complete sensitivity training and we'll be able to receive disability benefits.