To the OP,
I think you are putting the cart before the horse on this one. It is true that many people with mental disorders go to church but that does not mean that church causes mental disorders, it might mean that people with mental disorders are drawn to the perceived stability of the religious message. Think about it; if you heard voices in your head wouldn't you want to go somewhere that supports the idea that there are forces outside of the material world that contact us? I know that I found it comforting when I was having my own delusions of granduer and feeling unknown forces that seemed to wish me ill or well. As Kichi said, "...to accept atheism is to take responsibility for oneself." Who wants to think that their brain is malfunctioning, when there is a ready made delusion that exists to explain weird experiences.
I would use the analogy of fat people and McDonald's. McDonald's doesn't make people fat, overeating does, so to say that if a fat person avoided McDonald's they wouldn't be fat is just as wrong as saying that a mentally imbalanced person wouldn't be mentally imbalanced without church. Believe me, fat people gonna eat, and mentally imbalanced people gonna find some weird shit to keep them mentally imbalanced.
I think you are putting the cart before the horse on this one. It is true that many people with mental disorders go to church but that does not mean that church causes mental disorders, it might mean that people with mental disorders are drawn to the perceived stability of the religious message. Think about it; if you heard voices in your head wouldn't you want to go somewhere that supports the idea that there are forces outside of the material world that contact us? I know that I found it comforting when I was having my own delusions of granduer and feeling unknown forces that seemed to wish me ill or well. As Kichi said, "...to accept atheism is to take responsibility for oneself." Who wants to think that their brain is malfunctioning, when there is a ready made delusion that exists to explain weird experiences.
I would use the analogy of fat people and McDonald's. McDonald's doesn't make people fat, overeating does, so to say that if a fat person avoided McDonald's they wouldn't be fat is just as wrong as saying that a mentally imbalanced person wouldn't be mentally imbalanced without church. Believe me, fat people gonna eat, and mentally imbalanced people gonna find some weird shit to keep them mentally imbalanced.
