Chit Chat
is religion a sign of mental illness or
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or you could look at the catholic church as the enforcer, forcing people to pay to believe their own version of religion. Surely they are great businessmen and that needs to be acknowledged?
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Wolf3011 stands up on a hill and tells everybody, if they want to believe in singing goblins in his backyard, they need to come up with 9% of their income tax payable to you.
20 million people turn up and your many generations can feed off it. Surely you are special if you can sell that to a small group of people, let alone hundreds of millions? |
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All atheists are mentally ill obv - or as Paul said, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"
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I don’t agree with Jordan Peterson all of the time but that is a great exchange that addresses this question from a Christian perspective quite beautifully…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDDZIqPeHxc His assertion is that the majority tend to dismiss religion as some kind of silly superstition without acknowledging its functional significance as the foundational principle of civilisation. The Bible shows us that salvation cannot be achieved via the state, salvation can only be achieved via the individuals adherence to the superordinate principle. The Logos, the truthful individual who follows the example set by Christ, “enacting the meta pattern of Christ’s life in their own”, “Pick up that heavy load”. This model is the foundation upon which our society is seated. To deny truth, to seek an alternative (progressivism) can only lead to corruption, chaos and civilizational downfall. Essentially, it’s possible to acknowledge and respect the importance of that archetype without any belief in a supernatural deity. |
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That's true lux and you can read it in my earlier post of yesterday. The fact that order was imposed and maintained through superstitious fear for corrupt purposes does not mean that it has no benefits to civilisation. In the present era we seem to be testing if this order can be maintained by other philosophical ideas and some of the experiments have proceeded rather painfully and ended disastrously.
It's interesting to note that the project fear concept has often been used in other contexts such as for example Saddam's WMDs and mythical delivery systems in order to precipitate a decision to go to war. I'm sure you can think of others. |
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We aren't discussing whether it has benefitted society, the thread is asking whether religious people are mentally ill but the notion that something which has caused more war and deaths than any other man made creation with hundreds of thousands dying in the name of religion is fairly farcical. I think you are confusing law and religion with the former designed to control behaviour with consequences which has benefitted civilisation or attempts to despite so many examples of unfair laws etc whilst the latter is used as an emotional crutch to stave off the fear of death. What Saddams WMD have to do with religion I've no idea.
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Wolf, the link is the project fear concept. religion being the original one.
Regarding whether religious belief is a sign of mental illness I would say not in the vast majority of individual believers. It is more a manifestation of susceptibility to brainwashing from an early age which we all are and the persistence of that learning into adult life which doesn't apply to everyone. It may also indicate a basic insecurity and a need for universal certainties as a "comfort blanket". |
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Just seen your last post Baph, made me smile.
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I am just trying to imagine the kind of work that goes into creating a religion or a concept such as the sun is moved by a carriage of horses. One single person at some point comes up with an idea like this. Some ideas can't stand the test of time while others are still widespread. If religion is a mental illness, how does this illness spread from the creator's brain to the followers hearts? And then stay there for centuries without anyone making a cure?
If one is an atheist and knows for sure religion is fraud, would he then appreciate the kind of influence prophets have had on people, knowing they had nothing but a bunch of lies to work with? Such an achievement is nothing short of miraculous but I don't see anyone appreciating that. All I see is the stupid followers getting the blame. The reason I mentioned the church tax is because it is a case of people paying their hard earned money to be able to follow someone else's belief. If you think that isn't miraculous, try making people pay their money just so they can get a chance to believe in singing goblins in 'your' backyard. |
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A lot of moronic atheists equating Catholicism with Christianity.............mindless matter speaking drivel.
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Mr 100/1 that was my intention
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My Betfair balance is modified every day by whether or not a small number of these highly paid men kick the ball between two painted sticks (and under a third) so they have a greater direct influence on me than the religionists.
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well absolutely
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Religion is for some and not others. It's also an escape from possibly an odious occupation, past or present. If it helps one god and well - it's also cheap and not abusive to others not conducive.
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