People with either delusions of grandeur or the delusional belief in a God or afterlife should not be frowned upon because mental delusions are just one of the many amazing functions of the human mind. I'm sure many atheists admire the beauty of knowing how things scientifically work and such. Therefore, you should acknowledge the fact that anyone with a delusional belief has a beautiful scientific inner working of their minds and you should not frown upon it and convince them otherwise of their beliefs and such. I realize that atheists value the truth that there is no God and afterlife, but you should also value the fact that any attitude or delusional belief a person has is just something scientifically meant for survival. You should not try to change how things work according to science in this specific situation (which means not trying to change this person's beliefs). However, when it comes to the beliefs either causing harm to themselves or anyone else, that's when it's time to intervene. But other than that, if this person's belief just simply brings them personal pleasure in life, then it should not be frowned upon at all and should be acknowledged as an amazing function of his/her mind that makes this person that more amazing. I have delusions of grandeur and I don't have the intention of harming anyone or halting scientific progress.

Edit: There are innocent people here just living their own fantasy world not harming others or causing wars and we should just leave these people alone and never tell them the truth of reality as long as they are happy with their fantasies. We should encourage their fantasies to make them even more happy. If your attitude is that we should convince these people otherwise because the more people we have who realize the facts of reality, the more progress we have in science and such, then what if they never wanted to be that way and being that way makes them disappointed and depressed? Not to mention, some people don't even care about science and supporting it--they are just fine living their own innocent happy lives. Therefore, it's not worth it at all to tell them the truth of reality just for the possible sake of getting a more few people here and there to support science when the fact is that science is already being well supported by many people.

If only religion was that harmless.
What will you say to parents who put their fuzzy imagination before their own children. And we won't even start on the fundies!

Oh please....

Not only can a person's delusional beliefs make them dangerous, they set progress back decades.

People's delusional beliefs don't exist in a vacuum, they have real world negative consequences. Every delusional belief has the possibility of causing harm.

And just how do you plan on policing when a delusional belief is harmless, and when it becomes dangerous? Who gets to make that decision?

Just google a phrase something similar to "child dies because parents pray to get better". There have been multiple cases of this. One couple murdered both of their children by not getting them medical help for easily treatable conditions. I'm sure there are plenty of faith healing Christians that believe these parents made the right decision.

When predominantly delusional thinking ruled the world, we called it the 'Dark Ages'.

This may help you visualize the problem:




Delusional beliefs: start wars, fly planes into buildings, gets pseudoscience taught in school science courses, persecutes minorities, cause honor killings, blows people up in public places, causes female genital mutilation, suppresses advances in medical science... need I go on?

Do you even think about what you post anymore?

Did he ever?

(August 18, 2014 at 1:24 am)Simon Moon Wrote: Oh please....

Not only can a person's delusional beliefs make them dangerous, they set progress back decades.

People's delusional beliefs don't exist in a vacuum, they have real world negative consequences. Every delusional belief has the possibility of causing harm.

And just how do you plan on policing when a delusional belief is harmless, and when it becomes dangerous? Who gets to make that decision?

Just google a phrase something similar to "child dies because parents pray to get better". There have been multiple cases of this. One couple murdered both of their children by not getting them medical help for easily treatable conditions. I'm sure there are plenty of faith healing Christians that believe these parents made the right decision.

When predominantly delusional thinking ruled the world, we called it the 'Dark Ages'.

This may help you visualize the problem:




Delusional beliefs: start wars, fly planes into buildings, gets pseudoscience taught in school science courses, persecutes minorities, cause honor killings, blows people up in public places, causes female genital mutilation, suppresses advances in medical science... need I go on?

Do you even think about what you post anymore?

I have delusions of grandeur and I don't have the intention of harming anyone or halting scientific progress.

So you're asking "what's wrong with being Walter Mitty if it gets you through your day?". Frankly I think you're pretty amazing if you can admit up front that you're delusional and feel grand about it. Maybe that's your super power? Perhaps there will be poem told of your imagined adventures and the imaginary damsels you rescued. So you'd take whichever pill plugs you back into the matrix and gives you the pretty dreams. Would you kill for that?

(August 18, 2014 at 1:33 am)Mozart Link Wrote:

(August 18, 2014 at 1:24 am)Simon Moon Wrote: Oh please....

Not only can a person's delusional beliefs make them dangerous, they set progress back decades.

People's delusional beliefs don't exist in a vacuum, they have real world negative consequences. Every delusional belief has the possibility of causing harm.

And just how do you plan on policing when a delusional belief is harmless, and when it becomes dangerous? Who gets to make that decision?

Just google a phrase something similar to "child dies because parents pray to get better". There have been multiple cases of this. One couple murdered both of their children by not getting them medical help for easily treatable conditions. I'm sure there are plenty of faith healing Christians that believe these parents made the right decision.

When predominantly delusional thinking ruled the world, we called it the 'Dark Ages'.

This may help you visualize the problem:




Delusional beliefs: start wars, fly planes into buildings, gets pseudoscience taught in school science courses, persecutes minorities, cause honor killings, blows people up in public places, causes female genital mutilation, suppresses advances in medical science... need I go on?

Do you even think about what you post anymore?

I have delusions of grandeur and I don't have the intention of harming anyone or halting scientific progress.

Your delusions of grandeur makes you amazingly pathetic and amazingly annoying.

There are innocent people here just living their own fantasy world not harming others or causing wars and we should just leave these people alone and never tell them the truth of reality as long as they are happy with their fantasies. We should encourage their fantasies to make them even more happy. If your attitude is that we should convince these people otherwise because the more people we have who realize the facts of reality, the more progress we have in science and such, then what if they never wanted to be that way and being that way makes them disappointed and depressed? Not to mention, some people don't even care about science and supporting it--they are just fine living their own innocent happy lives. Therefore, it's not worth it at all to tell them the truth of reality just for the possible sake of getting a more few people here and there to support science when the fact is that science is already being well supported by many people.

Delusions of grandeur are not exclusive to religion. Packaged ideology in all shapes and sizes are at odds with the facts. The militant anti-theist movement is no exception. It may be a little more sober, but who says that's such a good thing.

That chart is delusionally Euro-centric. Islam had it's shit together back then. They made mathematic and scientific breakthroughs. They took numbers pretty damn seriously, until they took them too seriously.

For anyone who will take the time to fully read my opening post, I have edited some more information into it. Therefore, what do you think of that post now? Am I now right and no longer should be perceived as someone who is not intelligent, immature, etc.? If that's not the case, then please explain how I am wrong in my opening post.