Is religion linked to mental illness?

Question

I looked up the word Delusion it means "A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence. Especially as a symptom of mental illness". A web site i came across www.godisimaginary.com describes people who follow religion as delusional. Taking there is no solid concrete proof of god, just stories made up by men, i think this description of the word delusion does describe religion.

Answer 1

You're right - there is no concrete support for the existence of God.

For the wind argument, everybody can undoubtedly feel it; it's tangible. But God? I haven't felt God. When I look at myself in the mirror, I don't see any of the glories of God, because like God itself, all this hype about God creating everything is faith-based. I can't touch it, I can't see it and therefore, it's not really convincing me.

Now the wind on the other hand, I can see ruffling up my papers as I walk across the quad area in school. I can see it tear up houses in hurricanes. If anything, wind is a mighty thing to behold. But God? Show me something I can touch and I might be more inclined to believe you.

Answer 2

Wow, I actually kind of agree, but there's a difference between spirituality and organized religion. Some people need organized religion, others can work with earth energies, faith in the universe/higher powers, etc. I think certain fundamentalists could go too far and it comes off that the vehicle for the mental illness is religion. The part I agree about is the stories made up by men--that's true. Then again, men make up lots of stories that we base our lives on. Now, that means mental illness is all relative, doesn't it? Whoever cannot function in society as we know it now, is considered mentally ill, yet maybe, MAYBE, someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder or anxiety disorder 3,000 years ago would have been the shaman/sage of their tribe.

Answer 3

Psychological affliction

This term is used in reference to what may be a specific mental illness or a collection of them. Specifically some medical conditions that are associated with "religious experiences" such as schizophrenia or temporal lobe epilepsy.

As early as 1927, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud categorized religious dogma as mere projections of childlike wishes and claimed that "mankind will overcome this neurotic phase"; by 1939, Freud had characterized all religions as mass delusions.

Isabel Clark draws inculpatory parallels in her essay, "Psychosis and Spirituality; Finding a Language," demonstrating that "spirituality and psychosis...both represent one way in which human beings can encounter reality, and the same way at that." She goes on to explain that "the difference in the experience, where difference there is, and I will question whether the difference has been exaggerated, comes with the experiencer rather than the experience."

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines a delusion as "a false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite...what constitutes incontrovertible evidence to the contrary." Such religious beliefs as the resurrection of the Jesus figure and Young Earth creationism which run counter to verified scientific evidence, therefore, fit the pathological description of delusions. Evangelist Kent Hovind, for instance, is notorious for distorting and manufacturing scientific information in order to "prove" the beliefs he already maintains. While the DSM does give a kind of "cultural immunity" to religious beliefs, it presents no justifiable reason for doing so.

Recent studies have shown that in fact religious delusions are more common in religious patients suffering from psychosis than the non-religious 1. In a 1997 article in the British Journal of Psychiatry, Edgar Jones and JP Watson published their findings that non-schizophrenic individuals hold their religious beliefs as strongly as schizophrenic patients hold their delusional beliefs, and that both groups considered their respective beliefs to be equally objectively true 2.

Answer 4

Boy, what about Stephen Hawkings and his delusionary belief there are 11 demensions. We can touch them see them feel them or define them like we can the 3 and 4 demesions of our current "belief" system.

What about the delusionary belief in Atomic structure. We can't see it, feel it, take a picutre of it or prove it in any tangible way.

No one has ever scattered an atom into massive trails documenting every aspect, and certainly NO ONE has been able to show the existance of a quark.

So I guess all these people are delusinary too!

You can't prove these things tangibly like I can prove water exists by putting it in a glass, and THAT seems to be your defintion of the proof necessary for God.

I guess those looking for a Unified Field Theory are delusional also, why are we funding money to such delusional people. They've been trying to prove this for over 100 years and are no closer today then they were back in the last 1800s.

The whole world is about people chasing "ghosts" -- Man searches for Love, but you can't put Love in a glass or a box, you can't weight it, measure it with a ruler or bombard it with electrons to make it glow. Therefore, LOVE, under YOUR concepts of PROOF does not EXIST.

There is no LOVE.

All people in search of it are deliusional.

Afterall, we talking about fall into and and out of love.

Where does the love go? Does it dissipate back into the Ether?

Where did Love come from?

The only conculsion we can make is that it is a manifestation of a sick brain and all those searching for it and claiming to have found it are living in a delusional state of psychosis.

This is all an extension of YOUR concepts that disprove God.

Answer 5

God is not a delusion man, and if you want solid proof on His existense, look in the mirror. Who do you think created us and the universe around us man? Did it all exist by itself? Besides, religion was never connected or relatated to mental illness. On the contrary, religion clears up your mind, and gets you to the next level of relief, somethig YOU could never feel if you keep convincing yourself that God is a delusion

Answer 6

I don't know about religions in general but the Christian religion is linked to mental healing. Millions of testimonies of people who came out of a life of drunkeness, drug use, violent behavior, sexual promiscuity, broken families, and the like show the great healing that takes place when someone turns to Jesus and asks Him to be their Savior and the Lord of their lives.

As to your statement that there is "no solid concrete proof of God" that is a straw man argument. There is enough historical proof of God and Jesus to carry the weight of conviction in a court case. Today people are put into prison or put to death based upon the evidence that a prosecuting attorney can gather to show beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of commiting a crime even though there may be no eye witnesses to the event like in a murder case where the only other person who was present was the victim.

How much more should it be believed that God who has revealed Himself to mankind at various times and in various ways and has left a written record of those events be believed in? I'm not going to post page after page of written arguments for you because it has been my experience that most people who don't want to believe in God are not going to read them and even if they do they are like a member of the jury who has already taken a bribe in their attitudes towards such arguments.

But I will tell you that if you fail to carefully consider the "facts of the case" and if you continue on in your disbelief, you are running the risk of being the person who is on trial with your whole eternity at stake.

Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Notice that the unbelieving will have their part in the Lake of Fire.

Answer 7

to a certain degree if one is a fanatic. the best " concrete evidence " for GOD is this example. there has never been anyone who has seen the wind yet everyone has seen the effects of the wind so therefore people agree the wind does exist. look at the glories and wonders in the heavens and earth an observe the handiwork's of GOD. we see the results of GOD'S creations yet like the wind HE is invisible to our 5 mortal senses

Answer 8

Uh yeah, it is. Usually present in a milder form, fortunately. It makes one prone to euphoria, criticism of others, smugness, pride, flying into rages when questioned or :crossed.,obsessive prayer, fasting, compulsive scripture reading and tithing, sexual inhibitions sometimes leading to eventual sexual mania, bigotry, homophobia, and false feelings of empowerment and security. Indeed, this is why it was once called the "opiate of the masses." Re. "tequila7's" answer, John Mark Karr ( among many others) is a prime example.

Answer 9

brelieving and having faith in GOD is not a delusion as defined by that web site which you are saying. they have mistakenly definning it because they agaainst GOD and that is the work of satan or demons. you can not link relgion to mental illness there are many victims of mental illness who are not belonging to any religious sect or garoup. do not believe on wrong descrption with your basis or proof to show truth about it

Answer 10

Many Christians are against religion, it is about having a joyful, the Word of God (Bible) following, and devoted love for Jesus Christ in God and then loving all