(April 13, 2013 at 9:19 am)Adventuremrkt Wrote: I just read an article about mental illness in religion and started wondering if highly religious people might be considered as mentally ill.
I think you have the 'cart before the horse', so to speak.
SOME mental illnesses predispose the inflicted person with obsessions. Some of these mentally ill people may become obsessed with a public figure, some my become obsessed with religious beliefs, etc.
The mental illness comes first. Simply being highly religious does not mean someone is mentally ill.
But I do have to interject a Sam Harris quote here:
“The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.”
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
