Do you think fundamentalist theists who carry their delusions through whatever else they learn about the world have some kind of mental disorder?

Imo if you still believe in fairy tales past your early teens just because someone told you it was true or it says it in a 2000 year old book then there is something wrong with you.

I understand why people in past centuries or people living today who havn't had any reasonable education could believe in myths as they havn't had the access to knowledge we have, but there really no reason for anyone who has had a good education to believe in religious myths, unless they have a mental disorder.

Why is it so important to you?

(April 3, 2012 at 1:51 pm)Xavier Wrote: Do you think fundamentalist theists who carry their delusions through whatever else they learn about the world have some kind of mental disorder?

Duh! Something about a bear in the woods...

(April 3, 2012 at 1:51 pm)Xavier Wrote: Do you think fundamentalist theists who carry their delusions through whatever else they learn about the world have some kind of mental disorder?

I don't think they have anything wrong with them which explains why they fell prey to fundamentalism. Rather, I think funneling all their thinking through what they take to be literal directives is deforming and diminishes their humanity in important ways. I only wish for their own sake they could approach their theism in a way that channeled more of their humanity. (Of course, we must constantly guard against their political intrusions into the public sector for our own sakes.)

(April 3, 2012 at 1:56 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: Why is it so important to you?

Because its important.
Getting rid of religion is one of the best things we could do for humanity to progress in the near future.

(April 3, 2012 at 1:56 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: Why is it so important to you?

Why shouldn't it be? If fundamentalism is a mental illness, then there should be proper treatment.

Personally, I think they've never had sex. If not that then yeah, got to be some kind of disorder.

It's only natural for people to believe what we're raised to, what everyone who matters to us believes. We're social animals who depend on each other for survival. A bias to go along with the group on matters that can't be proven one way or another probably has value in terms of getting to pass your genes along. People who were raised theist and completely abandon that are the exception, not the norm. If I had gotten married to a good Pentecostal girl out of High School instead of joining the Air Force, would I have examined my beliefs so closely, or would I have too much at stake to take that chance? We humans have a tendency to give ourselves too much credit for winding up where we are when we think it's the right spot; when we all have been shaped by events beyond our control. Fundamentalists are no more to blame for not being able to escape their paradigm than poor people are to blame when they are unable to escape poverty.

I like to say they are just stupid, but I am well aware that we are products of our raising. Enough indoctrination from my parents and I have might professed belief in a 6,000 year old earth also.

Mister Agenda is right that we take too much credit for certain things that are highly influenced by our environment.

(April 3, 2012 at 3:34 pm)Faith No More Wrote: I like to say they are just stupid, but I am well aware that we are products of our raising. Enough indoctrination from my parents and I have might professed belief in a 6,000 year old earth also.

Mister Agenda is right that we take too much credit for certain things that are highly influenced by our environment.

I would also say that atheism attracts a more rational kind of person, although I wouldn't go around saying that theists are stupid, as it would just make us live up to the reputation we have among the theist community.