Theism is literally childish

[Shell B]

Theism is a form of superstition more than mental illness, though it does feature heavily in the mental illness of religious individuals, to my knowledge.

[Amarok]

That alone would not make it 'delusional' to believe in supernatural phenomena whether it's ESP, ghosts, alien abductions, NDE's or any other claim for which a skeptic does not accept as having sufficient evidence.

Not what the skeptic accepts . What their is no objective evidence of period .

Just because those types of phenomena cannot be easily tested in a laboratory under controlled conditions doesn't mean it is irrational to think they could be real.

Then you have no real standard of fact from falsehood . 

The larger point is that atheists putting theistic beliefs in the same category as a serious mental illness is a mild form of anti-religious bigotry.

Nope criticizing beliefs as crazy is not bigotry

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Bravo, Steve.  Funny how the self-proclaimed defenders of rationality will give kudos to such obvious drivel. It's almost as if saying stupid bad things about believers is reflexively accepted by many atheists. How can we even begin to have reasoned discussions with people lacking the ability to be selfcritical?

Steve did not disprove shit . None of this was drivel. Your whining projections do nothing PoeWooter.

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No one wishes mental illness, just like no one wishes to have been gay.

Nope many people perfectly happy being gay

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As for Alpha's ignorance  about abiogenesis that would take forever to correct but seven  points .

1. Were the hell are they trying to create homeostasis in a lab . let alone millions of experiments .

2. Uri miller was not trying to reproduce abiogenesis  regardless of what the popular press kept saying . 

3. The only difference between animate and inanimate matter . Is a single chemical process we understand quite well .     But can't replicate as it is beyond our current abilities . 

4. Uri millers experiments have been redone under updated conditions and got even better results . 

5. Time is not equal to magic . 

6. Abiogenesis by any current understanding would only happen once .

7. Evolution is occurring all the time

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As for the idea the universe came from nothing . I never said it does only that there is no reason to believe the universe came from anywhere. And no science does not say the universe had a beginning that's apologist crap.

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All wars between theists have ultimately had religious undertones .

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And yet they one and all believe that we should love the Lord above all things and our neighbor as oneself. Funny, how that works.

A vague weak definition and statement .

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As for Roads silly argument that considering theism (a BELIEF in god ) is delusional is the same as saying god does not exist this simply is not so . 

One can  argue that to the atheists current knowledge theism seems indistinguishable from delusion. While maintaining a lack of belief . 

Same as the fact that if theists were delusional that does not disprove god .

[Amarok]

As for Beta's moronic attempts to project his mentality on to atheists 

1. No YOUR more emotional then logical kindly 

2. No YOUR basing your idea's on confirmation bias 

3. No atheist blogs are not the same as a church going somewhere to hear idea from a colleague  is not the same as following a churches authority 

4. Their is nothing wrong with porn . And sex is not limited to a real woman . Ans certainly not to marriage . 

5. Evolution has dick to do with atheism nor emotions 

6. And no atheists coming to the same conclusion is not equal to a church .

[KevinM1]

Theism is a form of superstition more than mental illness, though it does feature heavily in the mental illness of religious individuals, to my knowledge.

As an outsider to religion, the line for me becomes incredibly blurred when theists start talking about their relationship with their god. Are they merely ascribing fortuitous events as a sign that their god's telling them they're on the right path? Do they actually, literally hear what they presume to be their deity?

It's just strikes me as incredibly odd. And, in any case, I find master/servant relationships troublesome.

[Amarok]

To further my point about Beta 


It's not just climate change he sucks at

[I_am_not_mafia]

[Whateverist]

Theism is a form of superstition more than mental illness, though it does feature heavily in the mental illness of religious individuals, to my knowledge.

I've always thought this too, that believers suffering through mental illness so often feel that their suffering is God's punishment.  It can result in a lot of obsessive rumination on what one has done to disappoint God and so on.  But I doubt if it is universally an extra burden.  There might even be a few who get comfort from their belief at such times, but if there are we never hear from them here.

[I_am_not_mafia]

[The Grand Nudger]

The difference between superstition and theism as defined by sociologists is more meaningful and less a term of art than the difference between theism and delusion as defined by psychologists.

[RoadRunner79]

I think that it matters quite a bit, if someone is trying to make it sound like religion is a primary cause for wars.

Yours seems to be a different question, of which I think that the specification of religious  may be a bit vague.

Actually i never said primary

No specification of religious is not vague at all in the context of this discussion i mean Christian.

Thank you for the correction.  I think my response may have been based more off of what Neo said than yourself.

Also thanks for the clarification.  I had suspected that you where referring more to what you see as Christian tradition, rather than just religions in general.  I can see where an argument can be made for such; in that light.  There are also arguments, that can be made against such strict pacifism as well.  I for one, do not believe that a Christian should not serve in the military. 

(Note:  thanks for a quick and simple correction/clarification   it's refreshing to have such in discussion).