Although my under-grad degree was in psychology, I never went on to become a professional psychologist & so I am making no claims of expertise. However, being brought up in a Christian evangelical fundamentalist family, I formed the suspicion that religion is a form of mental illness. When I went on to post-grad studies in cultural anthropology I became absolutely convinced that religion (in all its forms) is a form of socially sanctioned schizophrenia & is more than just a delusion. It is a hateful, divisive, bigoted, intolerant, unthinking & abusive disorder which has destroyed individuals, couples, families & entire nations. Most mental health professionals know this, but none dare mention the elephant in the room for fear of the reaction it would provoke. How is this different from the care people take not to "offend" Muslims (too late, if you're not a Muslim you're already on their hit list)? Moreover, how is it religious belief ticks all the diagnostic boxes for mental illness yet escapes the label? Imagine if there was only one Christian in the world & he/she was asked to describe Christian doctrine? A man claiming to be a god, who could turn water into wine (ie. an enabler for alcoholics), could return the dead to life, could walk on water & created the entire universe from nothing - who wouldn't conclude this person was crazy? Yet how do you treat someone who doesn't believe they're ill? How does one break the spell that binds their minds?
Religion is a pernicious meme deliberately fashioned over centuries to disable critical thinking & demand unconditional obedience. That many are prepared to die for their faith disturbs me far less than their readiness to kill for it. Abraham never displayed any doubt when god told him to murder his son, & he is held up as a role model for Christians to follow! Surely proposing to murder your child because a voice in your head told you to must qualify as a serious mental disturbance. Would any court of law accept a criminal's defence that he didn't commit "murder", he was just performing a "sacrifice"? This insanity has been tolerated for too long &, as Edmund Burke said, "for injustice to triumph, men of good conscience must remain silent". I am no longer prepared to remain silent & therefore complicit in the greatest evil facing humanity. I have hope that as global atheist momentum grows we may have the courage of our convictions to treat religion as the insidious lunacy it clearly is. Here endeth the lesson.
Religion is a pernicious meme deliberately fashioned over centuries to disable critical thinking & demand unconditional obedience. That many are prepared to die for their faith disturbs me far less than their readiness to kill for it. Abraham never displayed any doubt when god told him to murder his son, & he is held up as a role model for Christians to follow! Surely proposing to murder your child because a voice in your head told you to must qualify as a serious mental disturbance. Would any court of law accept a criminal's defence that he didn't commit "murder", he was just performing a "sacrifice"? This insanity has been tolerated for too long &, as Edmund Burke said, "for injustice to triumph, men of good conscience must remain silent". I am no longer prepared to remain silent & therefore complicit in the greatest evil facing humanity. I have hope that as global atheist momentum grows we may have the courage of our convictions to treat religion as the insidious lunacy it clearly is. Here endeth the lesson.
