Why isn't the shared delusion of religious belief declared a psychological illness by the medical profession?

Answer 1

lol...yeah, see your point, but it's like nailing down you shadow, man. Technically, we'd have to PROVE the non-existence of gods in order to justify. And the really freaky, funny thing is that the more evidence one gathers that religious belief is without factual foundation, without anything to back it up, the more "faith" it demands to believe in it, and the more people religious people will strive to believe it, because the more unlikely a thing is, the more it can be disproved, the more it proves how faithful they are to STILL hold that belief. So, perversely, the more evidence there is that God does not exist, the more believable he becomes to people of "faith". On this kind of system, we're never gonna be able to prove that faith is a delusion or a psychological illness.

Saw a great thing on a science fiction programme a couple of weeks ago. Set way in the future, people getting shuttles to a space station. The tannoy announced "Visitors are reminded that the use of teleports, phase weapons and religion is strictly prohibited". So maybe it's not so much a psychological illness as a weapon of mass destruction? :o)

Answer 2

Why isn't the shared delusion of no God declared a psychological illness by the medical profession, is what I want to know. After all, it's just a defense mechanism, to defend against fear, seeing as how the idea of an all-knowing God is quite scary to many people; much scarier than a bunch of puny little humans, eh?
Anyway, the existence or lack thereof of God can not be proven either way. There is evidence for both, neither is completely irrational...... And anyway, if silly people like you were going to declare us all ill, in need of medical care.... are YOU going to pay for almost the entire world to get that medicine??? Well, there you go, there's the answer.

Now, were you looking for an actual answer, or were you just trying to state something disguised as a question, and to be provocative? Just curious.

Answer 3

Because holding delusional beliefs does not necessarily mean you have any kind of illness. In fact many potentially delusional beliefs likely lead to evolutionary survival advantages and/or a better lives. It behooves one, for example, to generally believe that they are valuable to their society/family/friends, that they are generally a good/kind person, that they are happier much more often than depressed, that generally life is preferable to death, etc. regardless whether such beliefs are delusional. As perhaps a more salient example for non-believers -- a common debate in the atheist community today is whether or not humans have any "free" will. If it turns out that we actually do not have any freewill whatsoever, it may still benefit human survival to behave as is we believe such a freedom still exists. in fact, some argue the human mind is incapable of operating in any other way other than pre-assuming freewill, even if it's delusional. Would such a delusional belief be rightly considered an illness? Religion and its concepts (like God) may not seem quite as necessary as something like freewill to someone who never found any need for religious belief, but given the predominance of such beliefs and how the religious often reflect upon their faith, it does seem likely that for some religious belief is a very necessary component, even if it is delusional, to being a happy and healthy person. Given these examples of potentially good delusions, along with many others one might think of (there are many), it seems short-sighted to automatically see all delusions as leading to illness. Delusions often are at the root of that which leads every human being to live happier and healthier, and thus better, lives. It might be nice if everyone could accept their delusions for what they are -- rather than insisting them to be facts of nature, for instance, as many over-zealous people tend to do -- but as important as accepting one's delusions for what they truly are, is to also recognize that no human being is entirely delusion-free (and if you believe yourself to be delusion free, then you just discovered your first self-delusion).

Answer 4

Richard Dawkins ought to correctly be astounding besides the undeniable fact that it does no longer mean he knows each and every thing about the universe. in case you do not count number on God, i choose you to imagine for a 2d about "if" there replaced right into a God and he replaced into all-effective and all-understanding, if he were to exist and did not choose us people to understand for undeniable actuality that he existed, what ought to we as people do to easily prepare is disprove he exists? I easily do no longer imagine faith is a psychological ailment, purely because Dawkins says that its a delusions, does no longer mean he's sweet. faith is a perception in a better skill, because you do not imagine the universe purely popped up out of no the position

Answer 5

Priests claim to have heard God talk to them & call them to their duty. The result is they go to college, get fed, educated & then go & beat the hell out of little boys. If the average person claimed to have heard voices they would be sectioned, put on a load of psycotropic medication & branded a lunatic for the rest of their days. It really is a messed up world.

Answer 6

I agree with you...to a point.

IReligion certainly is a shared delusion. But rather than an illness, it is a defense mechanism.

Humans fear death. Religion helps them (most of them, anyway) come to terms with their mortality. One day, reason, logic, and science will triumph over religion. But not during our lifetimes.

Answer 7

I don't know about that, but I've always wondered about people who swear they hear "God's voice" in their heads. The ironic thing is that, if people claim to hear other voices in their heads, they're diagnosed with a psychological illness and most likely deemed insane. Who's REALLY the crazy ones? That's what I want to know.

Answer 8

Something is only deemed a medical illness if it negatively affects your ability to function in a society. Mass religious belief has CREATED our society, and is therefore desireable. Remember, mental illnesses describe the undesireables in a society.

Answer 9

The smart one's in the Medical Profession believe in God.

Did you really think that there were no Christian doctors?

I'll bet you don't think that there are any Christian physicists either!

Man you are sheltered! Closed minded! Obtuse.

Get over it. We all post our ignorance once in a while. It's one thing that makes this type of communication worth while. It sharpens us all!

Peace to you.

Answer 10

Some day it probably will be.

If you ever visited, or worked in, a mental faciility, you would see that a majority of the patients have religious delusions.