are Religious people mentally Ill?

College Confidential Community
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<p>my problems with non fundamental mormonism is that its existence allows for fundamental mormonism. It’s either both or neither - just like Islam itself is a beautiful religion, but fanatics build upon the sensible, human base of the religion. With mormons, the ratio of normal people who I want in America : the insane people doing things that I dont think they should be allowed to do is too high. That is my problem, and I also dont run the country, thankfully, and that is why I am posting it here. </p>

<p>And… have you ever read that dumb, manipulative, scheming Smith’s book? I have, unfortunately, and it reeks of the ‘hey, I’m going to make a cult to make myself powerful and wealthy, and pull it off because of my charismatic skills’ stench. </p>

<p>Pair that up with Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which aside from proving indisputable concepts in physics (well, unless you are taking into account Einsteinian relativity, etc), also talks about the uniformity in man and how men are equal…</p>

<p>Science is the flipside of logic, which is mental acuity. The great scientists looked at science as a philosophy. Religious people fail to see that their religion was made up by other men, while science has been functioning and governing the earth for its billions of years, and will govern the universe in 1 billion years whether or not humans are there to see it.</p>

<p>That is why those who follow religion as a philosophy, who teach their children the morals, and don’t interfere with their science/academic learning, are perfectly sane.Those who live and breathe their religion, who fail to see that it is a construct on man, while science simply is the universe - what caused cells to evolve to man, before man wrote the bible, are ■■■■■■■■. Dr Horse for example, who says that “science isn’t true” - no, go drop a ball off of a tower a million times, go read a book. Even if God did exist, he would be ashamed of people who denied simple logic and facts about the universe that He created. Okay, buddy, the fossils dated back a million years don’t actually exist, because they earth was created 4000 years ago… sure, sure. This isn’t mentally ill, this is such mentally slow and critically thinking-nonexistent.</p>

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<p>Oh so true, this is why I feel so bad for them :frowning: Theres a reason there aren’t unhappy atheists…</p>

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<p>Being religious or non-religious does not mean a person is mentally ill. Seems a foolish question to raise. One of the great things about our country is that we have religious freedom to believe what we want. Fortunately, we don’t have jerks like Stalin and Mao persecuting us because of our belief. </p>

<p>Thomas Jefferson Memorial inscription:
“Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”</p>

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<p>Good point. Isn’t it a fact that people with addictive tendencies tend to become Born-Agains? </p>

<p>To paraphrase George Carlin: </p>

<p>These people take everything: sex, drugs, rock and roll. Then they grow old, burn out, and get bitter. Then they become self-righteous.</p>

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<p>No kidding, why do you think religiosity correlates negatively with income and positively with body weight lol</p>

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<p>That’s a good way of putting it. Science is accurate, but it’s rooted in relying on human senses that quantum physics has begun to suggest can’t answer the ultimate questions.</p>

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<p>please elaborate especially give a basic overview of why quantum mechanical theory indicates the existence of a spiritual realm</p>

<p>give special attention to how 70-year-old ladies bend bars, using the term planck constant in your answer</p>

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<p>Study the quantum field yourself. While there is much we do not yet know as a society, there’s enough to give you a basic idea.</p>

<p>But your responses, including this one, are so consistently condescending that you no longer warrent response. If you someday choose to seek truth rather than just dismiss those who have experienced reality far beyond what you have, you know where to find me.</p>

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<p>No, there isn’t. It’s a field that most of the people working in it struggle to comprehend, with an incredibly complex set of mathematical kinetics. You don’t just close the gaps by watching “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and deciding that some new-wave spirituality trash is an adequate explanation for scientific concepts that you don’t understand. I am asking you to specifically describe how the quantum theory of matter justifies, leads to, or even relates to a cosmic search for meaning which involves people glowing with karmic energy and magically bending steel bars. </p>

<p>Jesus, quantum mysticism is just about the dumbest thing somebody could believe. Try learning your science from science classes and not spiritual gurus and pamphlets.</p>

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<p>^ obviously, there are things that a lot of people would rather call ‘Godly’, than try to understand.
This happened in the past (volcanoes, rains, storms, etc.), this happens now.</p>

<p>Could you please clear your point? If you say that mentioned above are mentally ill - I would go with ‘that’s harsh, but let’s say they prefer something easier to comprehend’. If you say that people who believe in anything at ALL are mentally ill - then this would include you too, as you believe your senses. You can argue that you ‘know’ that what you feel is what you feel etc., but some radical Christian might as well say that he ‘knows’ that God exists, simply ‘because’.</p>

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<p>“When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.” - Robert M. Pirsig</p>

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<p>“These people take everything: sex, drugs, rock and roll. Then they grow old, burn out, and get bitter. Then they become self-righteous.”</p>

<p>Why does this happen…? Christianity’s purpose is not to take all this from the world but rather to love it in spite of the above. Btw, I don’t think rock and roll is sinful… nor screamo… nor sex nor drugs in and of themselves. All depends on the context.
Yes, religious people do do this. But at the core, what is truth? No, not what “religious” people may display to the world (I am quite aware of hypocrisy), but what is actually taught?</p>

<p><3</p>

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<p>^^ Thomas, so I guess you are insane, if you BELIEVE (can not be proven, hence has same rights to be called delusion) that there is no God (read atheist)?</p>

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<p>^ Thomas, you have no arguments.
You go away from any post that can endanger your beliefs, opting to answer on it.
Would you mind presenting any arguments from that book, to counter mine?</p>

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<p>You are so incredibly rude, a milli. I know you are new to these boards, but you do not conduct yourself in any manner that is appropriate for mature conversation. It is time to grow up and accept that you do not have all the answers, no matter how easy it is to cocoon yourself in that belief.</p>

<p>I never claimed that quantum theory had all the mystical answers or that I learned it from some guru. </p>

<p>All I meant was that what we do know about quantum theory, which can roughly be summarized in the notion that an object remains in a state of vast potential until it is observed, gives us profound insight into a physics that reveals the limitations of classic physics and moves beyond the realm of time and space as we understand reality. Applying that principle to a macro level does not take a PhD. It just takes life experience.</p>

<p>The same is true of neuroscience. While most neuroscientists remain rooted in a materialist worldview, there are others who have proven that much of materialism is rooted in assumptions and dogmas without any empirical evidence. This vangard of neuroscience is beginning to prove that the mind exists separate from the brain, and is able to sustain existence beyond the workings of the body.</p>

<p>But if you wait for scientists to define your reality, you’re going to find them constantly behind. One need only experience the potential of human consciousness for oneself rather than scorning and demanding proof from others, resting comfortably in the bomb shelter of skepticism. </p>

<p>You ask how a field of science can lead to an old lady’s ability to bend thick steel with her mind, yet ignore the fact that the old lady bent thick steel with her mind. Why, at that point, does it matter what the root explanation is or what our primitive scientific inquiries tell us? We get caught up focusing on how things happen and miss the applcability. </p>

<p>One need only look at the primitive flying machines we use to see how little we understand as a society, even our most highly regarded university researchers. </p>

<p>Seek truth for yourself.</p>

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<p>applejack, while I don’t mean to be rude to you, please acknowledge that some of your means of explanation are sufficiently vague (Examples: “and thus we have reduced this to a problem to which there exists an elegant solution by one of the authors of …”; “Clearly, this expression is equal to one of the expressions in the required set”; “Obviously, a solution n exists between n=9364217 and n=9999999 when the parameters are conveniently chosen”; “Because the value is so small,…”; “Proof that such an object exists is left to the reader”) to merit healthy and defiant questioning. Outright skepticism arises because even as one (I) look/s for some redeeming papers, one (I) can’t find any! Of course, you could easily point me to a textbook.</p>

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The effects slough off at human-scale macro levels.
Religion attempts to deal with human-scale macro levels.
Heebeejeebies!</p>

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Rather than reject this outright, I’m asking you for a pdf. Again, no attack implied, but it sounds like one of those forgotten cures for hair loss.</p>

<p>This conversation eerily reminds one of the those who talk about Mathematics without providing any equations.</p>

<p>/OFFTOPIC</p>

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<p>I don’t take offense to skepticism, GeekNerd. Just to dismissive tones that are more accusatory than conversational. So, don’t worry.</p>

<p>The primary reason there’s no physics in a discussion about physics is because I’m not a physicist and have no interest in being one. My work lies in social science research and I am what one might call a mystic. </p>

<p>My interest in physics extends only so far as watching how science comes to terms with the reality I’ve already experienced. The Dalai Lama, for example, is actively working to engage scientists in researching the meditative and spiritual practices of Buddhism for the same reasons. He knows there’s a strong connection that simply has not been made in large part because scientists are scared to go down that road and possibly uproot long held traditions, such as Darwinism in its purest sense.</p>

<p>It’s interesting that you ask to be guided to a “textbook”. Textbooks are notoriously conservative in what they include. So, they will not have the answers you seek. A couple primer books I would recommend are:</p>

<p>The Field: this compiles a large amount of mainstream research from major universities and research institutions that support the theory that there is a force that exists between all of life, and within that force science has already proven the capacity for telepathy, telekinesis, and psychic behavior.</p>

<p>The Spiritual Brain: this is a book written by a neuroscientist at the University of Montreal. While not a perfect book, he rather convincingly demonstrates that materialist perspectives on mystic experiences and spirituality are based upon a set of assumptions and beliefs that have never been empirically proven. He then shows that science has already proven that mystical experience taps into a separate consciousness beyond the individual brain, thus negating the argument that the brain and the mind are one and the same and supporting the argument that the brain is more of a receiver.</p>

<p>Ultimately, however, you need to find this reality within your own consciousness first. We live by the mantra “seeing in believing”, when a more ultimate reality functions on the principle “believing is seeing”. That doesn’t mean blind faith. I’ve just found that when I’m skeptical, all the higher powers disappear. When I trust, they open like a floodgate.</p>

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<p>I don’t think all of them are mentally ill…just mostly very hypocritical.</p>

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<p>lol have fun impeding the progress of rationalist society until history sweeps you and your kind under the rug like so many other quasireligious purveyors of pseudoscience </p>

<p>GOURANGA!!!</p>

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<p>As a very devoted follower of Pastafarianism, I am highly offended by your post, a milli.</p>