Do you believe (as others have) that religion is a mental illness and child abuse?

Question

Religion is a mental disease...
http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2003/04/religion-is-mental-illness.php

Religion is child abuse...
http://richarddawkins.net/article,118,Religions-Real-Child-Abuse,Richard-Dawkins

Answer 1

Yes

Answer 2

No, I do not believe that religion or God is a mental illness. No, I do not believe all religions are equal or right. No, I do not believe religion is child abuse.

On the subject of child abuse. I am sure some liberal, democratic, nut jobs would see the way I raise my children as child abuse and I could care less. I am raising my children not anyone else. I find it funny that I am not supposed to spank my children and yet while they were in my wife's body she is encouraged or at least approve of her killing the child. So I think liberals are mental.

I have disciplined my children from the diaper to present day. It has included spanking, cuffing the head, biting, and removal of priviledges or sending them to their room. Because I have been consistant with my discipline my children are well behaved, well mannered and trustworthy when given direction. I can leave my children unattended while I do things around the house. This does not mean I do not check in on them but you get the idea.

Answer 3

I do not. I do not know who the others are. But I know you have a problem. You are an anesthetist. You do not believe in God. Fair enough. Have you ever tried to find out what is religion? It is a social discipline. When the people were nomads and anarchy was the only law, a fear of a stronger power made them discipline themselves. The so called liberal nature of yours will tempt you to do what ever you want to do. You do not have any other directives in society so authoritative as religion for a good behavior. Even in these yahoo answers how many agree with you and how many disagree? Do you care? If you want to be a social animal, you have to believe in something. You can call it belief , faith, trust, under sanding or what ever it may. there cannot be a scientific explanation. Religion started when there was no science. So it is consider superior to science because of its age. I do not say that religion is no misused. Yes it is. But do not call it a mental illness. You will be singled out.

Answer 4

No... because religion is some kind of believing.. cannot be throw out by symbol or language... We teach our child to understand what happen in the world is all related to the believing... not abused them.. is just the kind of wanted to accept it or not... because not all in this world u can explain by logic or reason... and it is not a mental illness as u been created.. there is common thing to ask how, why we are born to this world.. and there is a powerful kind to create us, everything.. it is about faith and believing inside ur heart though..... to make us feel comfort, safe for now and future..

Answer 5

Religion is no more child abuse than is baseball or bicycing.

Religion is no more a mental illness than is physics or chemistry or atheism for that matter.

Anything can become an obsession, and your railing against religion might be seen as such. Some atheists seem to be more obsessed with religion than are the faithful.

It is not a belief that is wrong, it is the imposition of that belief upon the unwilling that is wrong. Just as it may be wrong to impose Christian (or other) values upon a person who does not wish to believe, so is it wrong to impose atheism upon those who would not receive it.

You may claim "It's for their own good"; that is just as tyrannical as the imposition of religion. There are many religious who have quite valid reasons for believing.

One might also note that there are atheistic religions; e.g. Buddhism, The Secular Humanist Church and others. Do you declare these as purveyors of mental illness or child abuse?

Research might help you some.

Answer 6

Well, I believe rape, fornication (rape included), adultery, pedophelia, tihevery, robbery, homosexuality, bestiality, revilers, drunkeness, use of the flesh unnaturally, extortion, liars, murderers....all these things are not mental illness, but evil conduct on the part of those that choose to do them.

Religion being mental illness? When you use it in the wrong way like, oh, say, Warren Jeffs, Osama Bin Laden, Whacky Pres. Bush, and Muslims who bomb and blow up innocent people promising the suiciders multiple wives in heaven when anyone with common sense knows there are no wives or sex in heaven. The mental illness part is that these wack jobs sincerely believe the scam from their leaders that these crazed benefits will actually come.

True Christians do not participate in such animalistic behavior.

Hope this has helped.

Blah..

Answer 7

It would be child abuse if you did not teach them about their creator, God. When they reach an age where they understand the differences between right and wrong and have the ability to lead their own lives (age 18) then they can decide if they want to follow the path they were raised in or not.

Dawkins to me is the delusional one and needs mental help

Answer 8

What I know is that there are some people who do not believe in God because of the circumstances in their life -
These non-believers will be taught by Christ during the 1000-yr period after His return.

And then there are those arrogant ones who are not only satisfied with their own
non-belief - no, they need to take it one step further and set themselves up as the enemy of God; this is what you have chosen to do, and its not a healthy choice.
If you want to be Gods enemy, then you will be granted that, of course, but don't be too surprized when you are treated like His enemy.
I suspect you will be one of those who we will be picking up off the ground after Christ returns - you will be wallowing in your own tears, sobbing and begging and insisting that you "didn't know" and "someone else told you" and "oh,God I didn't mean it", and
you will be so doomed and so afraid at that moment that you will be sitting there in your own urine and feces, desolate, alone, and
reasonably miserable.
Since at that moment of Christ's return we will all be changed instantly back into our spiritual bodies, whether good or bad, all will change - but you will be one of those who realizes that although you changed back into that spiritual body, your soul has remained mortal (liable to die).
Its going to be the most horrid day you ever imagined; and quite frankly you will deserve
every moment of it - not because you didn't believe, but because you thought you were
so far above God as to actually show yourself as His enemy. You are what Christ calls "an unwise son". He also would call you "sottish"; the translators of the King James were ever so kind - actually in the manuscripts God is much more clear:
It means "stupid". You are a stupid child.

Answer 9

That's a very interesting question. I don't see religion as a mental illness but more an idea for some people to comfort. It's my opinion that children should be taught all religious beliefs and then be allowed to make their own choice on what to believe if anything. Not that anything like that will ever happen but it makes sense to me.

Answer 10

It took me along time to stop bashing religion because of human weaknesses, like pride, (wanting to be right and a know it all), and ignorance. Talking like an expert about things they know little about, other than what they are told.
Religion is just the practical application of spiritual concepts into our daily lives. Associating with positive people. Reading and listening to motivational and inspirational material. And prayer, which keeps the doors to telepathic communication open to the Higher Worlds.

Answer 11

It certainly can be. Have you seen the movie "Jesus Camp" or the one "Obsession"? These children are being abused in that a mental state is being induced which is either madness itself or leaves them open to madness.

Not all religions are mental illness, or cause it, but some definitely do. The problem, I think, is "faith," which is to say belief in the absence of evidence, or even in the face of evidence to the contrary. We would not accept such a thing in any other topic, so why should we when it comes to the important questions raised by religion?

Not all religions require faith. Some just teach.