What is the distinction between obsessive compulsive behavior (a mental illness) and religious addiction?

Question

Given the wars that are raging all over Planet Earth-currently incited or at the very least inspired by religious conviction, can we observe a human being who is obsessed with the idea of a Creator who is "on their side" and not see mental illness- delusional behavior? If you changed the name of Allah or Jesus to
Meepthor of Tralfamador and then watched the same behaviors taking place; killing one another in the name of Meepthor, would we recognize this very dangerous behavior and would we do anything about it?

Answer 1

A religious addiction would come from someone that believes that certain religious actions can "fix" whatever they're trying to fix; they are fixated on the trappings of religion, but probably don't really believe in God or His love for them, because God heals us of fears, addictions, etc.
I think that Bush's idea that God is on our side doesn't come from religious addiction; he just holds the conviction that those who follow God through Jesus Christ are the only ones that God accepts, whereas Muslims are anti-Christ, ergo, they're not on God's side. There's more info about the history of the Arabian race (decended from Ishmael, the child of Abraham that God rejected in favor of Isaac) in the Old Testament that puts some authority on Bush's position. I don't see him as killing in the name of Jesus, but as trying to prevent a militant Islamic takeover of the world, which would make us all have to live as people were forced to under the Taliban-i.e., no freedom to live your life as you see fit between you and your God. War, as horrible as it is, so far has been a very effective method of preventing a greater amount of people from getting killed than would have (for example, the people that Hitler, Stalin, Hussein, et.al. were or would have killed, if they hadn't been stopped). This is how it is in a world of free will.

Answer 2

You compare 2 mental illnesses, OCD and addiction, and you throw in the word "religious" to bash organized religion because you don't like it. You start out with an assumption and proceed to dump your own personal anti-religion on us, so how are you any better than the brain clutching religious FANATICS (a relatively small portion of most organized religions) that you are bashing? Who's better than who here...? If you were really any better than the rest of us, you wouldn't be here. Wake up, dear, we're all sailin' on a ship of fools... Now what are you going to do about it besides spew hate begat by hate? The most common lie that has been twisted into most religions is that faith is just believing in something that you can't experience. Faith is building energy centers of sub-atomic particles in and around the human body and far, far, more than that, and Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Theosophy, the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, etc all say the same things about faith if you dig deep enough into books, but why bother talking to it to you 20-something web surfing kids who got it all figured out and are looking for convenient rationalizations to justify your selfish behavior, eh?

Answer 3

I think your question stem says it all, OCD is a mental illness or disorder while addiction is just what it is, and addiction. You can have your religious fanatics sure, and yes they can obsess over their culture but I doubt the killing is the compulsion part they need to carry out to relieve this stress or obsession of religion. To label them mentally ill is a bit far. I see your comparison to the two though.

Answer 4

The distinction is that mental illness is not a choice and serving God is. Christians believe that God was, is and always will be and for starters we follow the 10 commandments on which all of God's laws are based on. God is never on the wrong side sorry you never see that in the Bible. And, in 2006 we don't kill anyone in the name of Jahovah or Jesus.

Answer 5

To me, OCD, is when a person does things repeatedly or compulsively - such as, they have to wash their hands so many times, close the door a certain number of times, walk a certain way, obsessively clean house,etc.
A religious addiction? I guess the way you explain it, it can be looked at as an addiction, but, still not the same as OCD.
It's like trying to compare an apple to an orange.

Answer 6

OCD is a repetitive thought, or action that you cant shake. Being a Christian is a belief that motivates you to do the will of the Father, it could be something different each day.

Answer 7

Many mental disorders, including religion, share the common aspect known as "faith". Insanity is the inability to perceive reality as it really is. Faith causes people to believe reality is different than it actually is, which is the clinical definition of insanity.

Answer 8

Religion is the first cause of all mental dis-orders as they first separate the identity of the self to something imaginary and external to their own innate collective whole.

Answer 9

There's a difference?