Considering the debate this thread has generated ( & thank you for that:-) as to whether religion constitutes a mental illness or not, was it a misnomer for Richard Dawkins to title his bestseller as the God Delusion? Or are delusions no longer considered psychological aberrations as has hitherto been the case? Just to qualify this point; even if you are born into a society that worships pink unicorns, doesn't the same onus of proving the existence of pink unicorns still exist for pink unicorn believers? I accept we all have our particular delusions, the difference is that these other delusions don't carry with them the penalty of eternal damnation for failure of compliance. After all, I'm not threatened with fire & brimstone if I refuse to believe the earth is a sphere rather than a flat disc.
When I did psychology, dysfunctional behaviour & beliefs were identified as those which impair the individual's ability to function independently (or perhaps the definition has changed?). Surely imposing strict limits on what others (especially children) can & cannot be allowed to even think thus qualifies as dysfunctional? Having been brought up in a fundamentalist family myself I would add to the charge of mental illness that religion is also a form of child abuse (but that's for another thread). In short, being born into a society that holds nutty beliefs doesn't make those beliefs any less nutty.
When I did psychology, dysfunctional behaviour & beliefs were identified as those which impair the individual's ability to function independently (or perhaps the definition has changed?). Surely imposing strict limits on what others (especially children) can & cannot be allowed to even think thus qualifies as dysfunctional? Having been brought up in a fundamentalist family myself I would add to the charge of mental illness that religion is also a form of child abuse (but that's for another thread). In short, being born into a society that holds nutty beliefs doesn't make those beliefs any less nutty.
