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Should religion be classified as a mental illness?

This is a pointed one (I know) but I personally think that it should provided that certain safeguards are put into place.

The DSM is a disaster as anyone who knows it will tell you. Principally, if something doesn't cause someone distress, then it's not a mental illness - and this is part of the problem.

The other part is that it's so widespread, the ramifications would be incredible. However, by ignoring this elephant in the room, we're letting the problem ferment to even greater degrees and America is a huge problem in this regard.

Draco 6 Sep 23
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31 comments

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4

Most delusional thinking is regarded as mental illness. Why should a talking rabbit be considered delusional but a talking burning bush not? Miraculous cures by a simple laying on of hands, if investigated, would always have some basis in psychological of physiological reality. But people fall for miraculous cures in revival meeting tents everyday that are no more than staged theater or, at best, mass hallucinations. If some poor soul was wandering the streets espousing a coming alien invasion would we not seek to find him professional help? But we allow others to build magnificent houses of worship (tax free) to indoctrinate others into believing in resurrection and golden cities in the sky. I know that, for me, belief in a fantasy friend in the sky that will listen to prayers about which team is going to win a high school football game or allow untold tragedy as part of some great plan greatly detracts from the credibility of the believer on all subjects, religious or otherwise. I think those believers are as much in need of professional counseling as any other raving lunatic.

I agree with you and like your point about the exploitation of these mentally ill people.

4

LOL if they believe in imaginary people.. yes

4

I think in certain instances, religion is a manifestation of mental illness.

4

Yes. If you tell a psychiatrist you've been talking to God in the coffee shop, see what happens next.

4

Yes, religion should be classified as a malignant tumor.

that what it is

3

I don't think being a believer is a mental illness, just a way some people have of coping with the great unknown. My grandmother got a lot of pleasure out of doing things for her church and I know it made her feel like she had a small amount of control in her life. I have no such illusions. I realize that my life is simply a lucky accident and the fact that I am still alive and thinking about such things re enforces my belief that this life is what i can make of it, not what has been planned for me by god or the creature that turns the wheel of the universe if such an entity exists....Honestly, I think it is all amazing but random... .

2

Yes. Why else would you blatantly deny the evidence that is presented!

2

I think religion can make you go crazy or insane

2

It's a huge epidemic that endangers everyone on Earth.

2

OH hell yes!!! People walk around talking to themselves.. you don't know if they are psychotic, on drugs, or doing religious shit.. there is a fine line between mental illness and religion.

2

Religion becomes a problem when groups of human beings start killing each other because they think they have a better imaginary friend in the sky than the other group. This isn't just mental illness - it is insanity! To take a human life in the name of any god is the worse kind of sickness that exists and yet it is part of Religions past, present, and future unless human beings can find a way to co-exist. Refuse to be put in a group and you will never have to fight or defend that group. Reject any position that needs to be argued and there will be no argument! Why isn't it enough just to be a human being - that fact that we are here - life in the middle of now where on this amazing planet that we are taxing with our over population, polluting of water… etc etc etc… we need ideologies that bring us together - that help us to come together - not that separate us from fellow human beings - so we can put our heads together and over come the challenges that face all of us!

2

IMHO religion is a highly contagious mental disorder passed by word of mouth. The young are particularly susceptible to infection, and therefore there should be a minimum age for entry to a church, same as for entry to a bar.

2

I am not sure if religion itself is a mental illness but I think it can be the root of many.

DeiP Level 5 Oct 2, 2017
2

I went to a catholic school, and we were taught evolution and the big bang as fact.

Wow ! That's interesting ! I hear that they have an Observatory at the Vatican too, which maybe gives credence to the Ancient Alien theory. I feel sorry for old Bruno, though...

They now agree the world is round!

2

I sometimes think so.

1

I think it is, if you went to a psychologist and told them you are hearing voices that are telling you what to do as my of the religious claim to, you would be prescribed an anti-psychotic. if you start gyrating around and bubbling made up words outside a church you would be prescribed an anti-seizure medication.

1

No. Either it was brain washed in when you was young or traumatic events cause you to use it as a crutch. It may cause Schizophrenia much like what the ppl in the American bibble had.

1

religion is not really a mental illness when you get down to the nitty gritty. The major reason why religion still exists to this day is in my opinion because schools aren't teaching kids how to think they are just teaching them to memorize crap. If you wanted to get rid of religion all it would take is 3 or 4 generations of teaching people critical thinking in schools and keeping that going all the way up to college. Remember when you were a kid and you asked your parents why all the time? I don't know if your parents encouraged that but I feel as though a great many parents get pissed off by it after awhile and that teaches children not to question.

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1

America, you mean USA?
We are behind Europe.
All the brainwash with religion, made people like morons.
More persons every day are waking up.
So there is hope.

tonia Level 5 Sep 27, 2017
1

I certainly agree with you - religion IS a mental illness.
sorry but I can't stop myself from posting a portion of a song by Billy Joel, my emotion's getting the better of me: I'm only human, bro:

"Sometimes I wonder
Why are we so blind to fate?
Without compassion
There can be no end to hate" from the song Two Thousand Years by Billy Joel

1

I agree safeguards for voting. If they are religious then no vote: case in point, look at who was elected president.

this is @monkey test

not all voted for him.

And look at what a great job he's done now. Slashed budgets across the board... and then sent the money to the military. On top of that, he's actively dehumanizing the entire LGBT spectrum.

I'm not going to say Clinton was any good, but at least I wouldn't be worried about state supported Nazism FFS.

0

No, religions are not a mental illness. The people are deluded - believing something is there, a god or gods, that there is no evidence for - but they can start thinking and many people escape the trap. It happens when, for example, they read the bible and realize that it is a horrible god with many immoral acts condoned such as slavery. So they do not necessarily have a mental illness. This doesn't mean that religious people are free of mental illnesses, just that believing unsupported ideas is not an illness. Were people mentally ill when they thought that daemons caused sickness? No, they didn't know about germ theory yet.

0

No. Not unless you're ready to classify Homo sapiens as a mentally ill species. Religion is hardly the only thing humans are irrational about. You would also have to classify all art-lovers, music-lovers, poetry-lovers, and just plain ol' lovers mentally ill. Hmm... now that I think about it...

skado Level 9 Nov 26, 2017
0

What part of life DOESN'T cause someone distress? I think we have a problem in that we can't come to an agreement on what constitutes a mental illness. Some might consider the American Psychiatric Association as the authority, but I wonder. Are they able to rationally judge all others?
Religion is not necessarily a mental illness, but it might be considered a mental aberration at least. To believe, without concrete proof, a religious dogma doesn't seem to be rational.

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