I am to understand that religion does teach people how to be mentally ill.. in fact DEMANDS that you must be mentally ill or all sorts of atrocities will be inflicted on you. 
This is about the equivalent of saying to a 2 year old "Don't touch the stove when mummy or daddy are cooking you WILL get burnt" The religious twist this around as though they are still 2 year olds (so it seems to me) as though they have never grown up and out of the 2 year old mentality.
As for people "reading your thoughts" there is no evidence for this as far as I am aware. Personal experience is that with people who know you well (say Family members) you often can "pick-up" roughly what they are thinking. I am to understand this as a survival tactic of the familial group...but I am to understand that a hell of a lot of body language gets read as well.
Agreed it is very cruel to inflict myth, fable and fairy story on young minds as truth. Even more so if that young mind has functioning issues. Nothing wrong with "fairies at the bottom of the garden or Dragons living at the front door protecting the house" BUT as the child grows these "stories" are exposed for what they are... just imagination.
The Human mind is a wondrous and terrifying thing capable of sooo much.
This is about the equivalent of saying to a 2 year old "Don't touch the stove when mummy or daddy are cooking you WILL get burnt" The religious twist this around as though they are still 2 year olds (so it seems to me) as though they have never grown up and out of the 2 year old mentality. As for people "reading your thoughts" there is no evidence for this as far as I am aware. Personal experience is that with people who know you well (say Family members) you often can "pick-up" roughly what they are thinking. I am to understand this as a survival tactic of the familial group...but I am to understand that a hell of a lot of body language gets read as well.
Agreed it is very cruel to inflict myth, fable and fairy story on young minds as truth. Even more so if that young mind has functioning issues. Nothing wrong with "fairies at the bottom of the garden or Dragons living at the front door protecting the house" BUT as the child grows these "stories" are exposed for what they are... just imagination.
The Human mind is a wondrous and terrifying thing capable of sooo much.
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
