Do religions promote insanity?

[median]

Thanks for sharing this tragic tale of what is all too common in our culture. I too used to be religious (Fundy Christian Apologist for nearly 20 years) and actually did "mission trips" to Salt Lake City, to try and de-convert the Mormons - telling them "You have the wrong Jesus!" etc.

What this story, and others like it, tell me (in part) is that religion placates to people's EMOTIONS. That is how their followers become sucked in. They find people who are vulnerable (somehow, some way, or in some manner) damn vulnerable. And then they EXPLOIT that vulnerability with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) irrationality (like a used car salesmen but more delusional), so they can get you to BUY what they are SELLING - except of course they don't tell you any of that. I know this feeling very well, as I lived and practiced it (on myself and others) for years. And indeed, I had it practiced on me first! That is how I got sucked-in in the first place. There is a great quote that goes something like this:

"You cannot reason a man out of a belief to which reason did not lead him in the first place."

So true!

Religion is for the intellectually lazy, the gullible, or the emotionally vulnerable. They need to read this book!