Temporal lobe epilepsy & religious experience.

[R00tKiT]

As for the first item, I am not a psychologist, anthropologist, archeologist, neurologist or sociologist, but, the evolution and psychology of religious belief has been well studied.  From our distant H. Sapiens ancestors some 75,000 years ago who worshiped the carved figure of a giant snake right up to the present, religious faith and belief serve individual, societal and political purposes.  We all can and should empathize with that; but, at the same time, religious faith and belief can be destructive, too destructive, in my opinion.  As such, belief in God needs to go, in my opinion, not only for the individual, but, especially, for the survival of our species.

You seem to forget one crucial thing: the human brain seems to favor belief in the supernatural. Again, being able to understand how people formed religious beliefs throughout history doesn't undermine theism.

 I weep, albeit distantly, with the parents who have lost their child, and have empathy for their need to believe that their little one has gone to Heaven, and that they will be reunited with their dead child someday, and I am not about to tell them otherwise, unless, of course, they come here of their own free will, in which case, we owe them the truth.

Absent revelation as an absolute source of truth, obviously nobody can really say anything about whether there is an afterlife. 

As for my OP from six months ago, I linked to an article in Wikipedia, and yes, as some two-thirds of schizophrenics in our Day are never diagnosed (they have what psychologists term "functional schizophrenia"), all religious experiences, including the founders of all World religions, could be viewed as being functional schizophrenics, with or without temporal lobe epilepsy.  By the way, someone could have a seizure, "see God", without any overt physiological manifestations.

I am curious to know how would you go about diagnosing military leaders and social reformers with schizophrenia, which is debilitating. I am going to focus on the Islamic prophet because I know more about his biography than that of other religious figures, 
For people who are interested, there is a peer reviewed article of a neurologist, Frank R. Freemon, [Chief Neurologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Nashville] entitled "A Differential Diagnosis of the Inspirational Spells of Muhammad the Prophet of Islam", here is what he has to say about schizophrenia : 

"Schizophrenic hallucinations include voices, sometimes with a personal message, but it is unlikely that the dull effect of the schizophrenic would have inspired the tenacious loyalty of the early followers. It is also unlikely that a person with loose associations and other elements of schizophrenic thought disorder could guide the political and military fortunes of the early Islamic state. "

With regards to TLE, he gives reasons for and against the diagnosis :

Favoring the diagnosis :

Paroxysmal onset 
Failing to the ground with loss of consciousness
Autonomic dysfunction 
Hallucinatory imagery

Opposing the diagnosis :

Late age of onset 
Lack of recognition as seizures by his contemporaries
Poetic, organized statements in immediate postictal period 

I can include a direct sci-hub link to the article if it doesn't violate any policy of this forum, alternatively, anyone interested can easily find it themselves