Why isn't religious belief considered to be a form of mental illness?

Just found a good response to the original question for this topic...

Aron Ra was asked...

Question: Do you believe that faith in a God or gods is a mental disorder?

Aron Ra: No, but it acts as one. For example the psychiatric definition of a delusion is a persistent false belief which does not change in spite of conflicting evidence, so religion is literally a delusion, but one that is caused by conditioning, rather than pathology. There are a number of studies showing a negative correlation of faith as debilitating certain cognitive functions or even diminishing certain areas of the brain, so religion can possibly lean to and certainly conceal or even encourage mental disorders without actually being one itself.

Source:

YouTube video

It's at about 8:40

de·lu·sion
dəˈlo͞oZHən

noun

an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument, typically a symptom of mental disorder.

I thought that was a good answer.

Originally posted by Chuck_Schumer
What is the fundamental difference between someone who believes an ancient man is to descend from the heavens and save all of humanity, to the extent where they formulate their life around it, and your average schizophrenic who is able to function in the real world but suffers from delusions?

Google modern day prophets and you will find countless articles of individuals who claim to be, yet are laughed at and/or institutionalized.

Mohammad was a schizo, and so was Yesus.

Religion is about CULTURE and ORDER for the 'sustainability' of a society in the long-term. Religions have a lengthy history in construction of new societies, and reforming ancient societies. Secularism is a modern-era substitute but may not necessarily ensure sustainability of every society in the long-term.

Pointers for the naive:

[1] http://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2005/09/apo-nid2765-1101686.pdf

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527763/

Secondly, science is not about proving or disproving God. Don't be naive.

Not that I buy into the "all religious people are mental" sentiment, but come on now, who's more mental, the person who believes in a magical Skyfather or the person who rejects the idea.

Originally posted by S_W_LeGenD
How is atheism any different from your view? Why should atheism be not identified as a form of mental illness? Because atheist believe that atheism is correct?

You're really missing the point. Because by definition atheists don't believe in things on insufficient evidence. In other words they avoid delusion, rather than prize it as a virtue. (Delusion being a symptom of mental illness.)

Originally posted by S_W_LeGenD
Religion is about CULTURE and ORDER for the 'sustainability' of a society in the long-term. Religions have a lengthy history in construction of new societies, and reforming ancient societies. Secularism is a modern-era substitute but may not necessarily ensure sustainability of every society in the long-term.

So I think I can see where you're going with this because I know the type.

I'm guessing that you're not necessarily proclaiming the truth of religion, but rather it's utility in maintaining morality and order. People need scary delusions to be controlled and pacified. I've always found that point of view kind of messed up, like the way cynical dictators manipulate their masses.

And in case you hadn't noticed the way our species evolved, religions were born of our ignorance and fear, so throughout human history before we knew as much about the universe as we do now, superstitious and religious people were basically all there was. There was no one else to do the job. There's never really been a truly secular society. But in fact, the United States is one of the closest examples of a secular government, and it's actually quite prosperous. And Judeo-Christian values have not been seen to significantly improve morality of culture. Morality is an evolved construct like everything else. It's not handed down by G-O-D.

Originally posted by Patient_Leech
You're really missing the point. Because by definition atheists don't believe in things on insufficient evidence. In other words they avoid delusion, rather than prize it as a virtue. (Delusion being a symptom of mental illness.)

So I think I can see where you're going with this because I know the type.

I'm guessing that you're not necessarily proclaiming the truth of religion, but rather it's utility in maintaining morality and order. People need scary delusions to be controlled and pacified. I've always found that point of view kind of messed up, like the way cynical dictators manipulate their masses.

And in case you hadn't noticed the way our species evolved, religions were born of our ignorance and fear, so throughout human history before we knew as much about the universe as we do now, superstitious and religious people were basically all there was. There was no one else to do the job. There's never really been a truly secular society. But in fact, the United States is one of the closest examples of a secular government, and it's actually quite prosperous. And Judeo-Christian values have not been seen to significantly improve morality of culture. Morality is an evolved construct like everything else. It's not handed down by G-O-D.

Wow. You can tell Leech went to college.

Cause it takes a College Education to be that....SPECIAL!!!!!!!

😱

Originally posted by Flyattractor
[b]Wow. You can tell Leech went to college.

Cause it takes a College Education to be that....SPECIAL!!!!!!!

😱 [/B]

Yeah, college, where they teach all that godless ev-o-lu-shun trash.

Sad that education and intellect is looked down upon now. Thanks, tRUMP culture!!

Oh if ONLY Evolution was all they taught in College now.

Instead of the Segregation of the Races. Toxic Masculinity. Fascist Levels of Feminism. Transgender Nonsense and "Its a Safe Place Bro" bullshit.

Best Education You get in College now is Masters in Hate.

Originally posted by Flyattractor
[b]Oh if ONLY Evolution was all they taught in College now.

Instead of the Segregation of the Races. Toxic Masculinity. Fascist Levels of Feminism. Transgender Nonsense and "Its a Safe Place Bro" bullshit.

Best Education You get in College now is Masters in Hate. [/B]

It's really not that bad, Fly. You're making a mountain out of a molehill. There has been some of that popping up, but the degree to which it is a problem is still somewhat unclear.

But yes, it exists and that's a problem.

But what *I* find amusing is this overreaction and jump to the far-RIGHT as a result. Which solves nothing, it only adds fuel to the fire.

Come on Patient Leech, I honestly expect more from you. The far-right?

Originally posted by Emperordmb
Come on Patient Leech, I honestly expect more from you. The far-right?

It's no mystery that many people voted Trump into office because of their general annoyance with political correctness. To them it didn't seem to matter that Trump is an obvious demagogue without even a ounce of rationality. And Trump has energized the far right. So yes, that sort of overreaction is absurd.

Originally posted by Emperordmb
Come on Patient Leech, I honestly expect more from you. The far-right?

Originally posted by Patient_Leech
It's no mystery that many people voted Trump into office because of their general annoyance with political correctness. To them it didn't seem to matter that Trump is an obvious demagogue without even a ounce of rationality. And Trump has energized the far right. So yes, that sort of overreaction is absurd.

Originally posted by Putinbot1
He's right.

He is. Intentional or not, Trump has emboldened far-rightists, racists, and the toxicity of some kinds of incels.

He has, but as a larger point he's emboldened people who disagree with the "progressive left." That includes the far right, but not exclusively.

I could by the same token argue someone like Bernie Sanders emboldens actual marxists, but Bernie himself is just arguing his stances and though he calls himself a democratic socialist he comes across more as a social democrat. I'm going to judge him off of his own policy positions, not the policy positions of the worst people that happen to be emboldened by him.

Originally posted by dadudemon
He is. Intentional or not, Trump has emboldened far-rightists, racists, and the toxicity of some kinds of incels.

Originally posted by Emperordmb
He has, but as a larger point he's emboldened people who disagree with the "progressive left." That includes the far right, but not exclusively.

I have been vocal about the idiocy of Political Correctness long before Trump. I don't need a moron like Trump to embolden me. In fact, I should feel like an idiot if I needed someone like Trump to embolden me to speak out against Political Correctness.

Originally posted by Emperordmb
I could by the same token argue someone like Bernie Sanders emboldens actual marxists, but Bernie himself is just arguing his stances and though he calls himself a democratic socialist he comes across more as a social democrat. I'm going to judge him off of his own policy positions, not the policy positions of the worst people that happen to be emboldened by him.

There's nothing wrong with actual pure communism. In fact, that is the ideal society. Humans are just incapable of stopping their selfishness. "Communism" is used as a dirty word but I'm okay with communists being emboldened by Bernie Sanders. Here's hoping that humans can evolve enough to form something similar to the United Federation of Planets and money becomes meaningless.

But all the rest of what you say about Bernie...man, I really could not care less about those meaningless nuances.

Originally posted by Patient_Leech
Just found a good response to the original question for this topic...

Aron Ra was asked...

I thought that was a good answer.

As for how Aron Ra himself seems to define it, it' based on believe in the presence of conflicting evidence... but there's not actually any hard evidence to prove that God DOESN'T exist so what he's saying isn't applicable.

Why isn't being a complete ******* considered to be a form of mental illness?

Wait... It is.

Originally posted by Robtard
Not that I buy into the "all religious people are mental" sentiment, but come on now, who's more mental, the person who believes in a magical Skyfather or the person who rejects the idea.

👆

Originally posted by darthgoober
Not really. If you look at the definition you posted it specifically talks about something that contradicts generally accepted as reality or rational argument, but most of the world believes in a higher power of some sort. So going by that definition Atheists would actually be the delusional ones.

Nice attempt to turn it around. I like that. But there's nothing wrong with believing in "a higher power of some sort," (in theory), but the problem is an anthropomorphized God who answers prayers, writes books (many different contradicting ones) and generally gives a shit what people do or think or say. The problem is this idea of revelation. For that there's no good evidence. And the other flaw in your reasoning is that just because lots of people believe it doesn't make it true. Belief doesn't make reality. Reality should lead to belief. In other words, you should only believe something if there's good reasons to do so.

Originally posted by darthgoober
As for how Aron Ra himself seems to define it, [it's] based on [belief] in the presence of conflicting evidence... but there's not actually any hard evidence to prove that God DOESN'T exist so what he's saying isn't applicable.

Look up the "burden of proof" (see attached). It rests on the person making the claims to provide convincing evidence. I'm not required to disprove claims. Atheism is merely a lack of belief due to lack of evidence. It is not an assertion that there is no god.