LittleNipper wrote:What I do is offer a relationship with God through Christ that is superior to any religious affiliation. The world is full of religions. But the only thing that counts is the personal relationship with a loving Father, and not a mess of go-betweens. Even "refugees" need to know that there is life away from the hive. Atheism (not atheists) annoys me, but I'm not for their exclusion. I'm a firm believer that an open forum allows everyone to express what is in their soul. How they express it, often reveals the true nature of their logic.
Nipper, were you menstruating when you posted this? I ask because your Bible associates menstruation with spiritual uncleanliness, so I'm guessing you'll want to avoid discussing religion while menstruating. Just sayin.
And while we're at it, don't forget to remain silent in church and remain submissive to your husband in all things.
Surprise, surprise, there is no divine mandate for the Church to discuss and portray its history accurately. --Yahoo Bot
I pray thee, sir, forgive me for the mess. And whether I shot first, I'll not confess. --Han Solo, from William Shakespeare's Star Wars
LittleNipper wrote:What I do is offer a relationship with God through Christ that is superior to any religious affiliation. The world is full of religions. But the only thing that counts is the personal relationship with a loving Father, and not a mess of go-betweens. Even "refugees" need to know that there is life away from the hive. Atheism (not atheists) annoys me, but I'm not for their exclusion. I'm a firm believer that an open forum allows everyone to express what is in their soul. How they express it, often reveals the true nature of their logic.
Nipper, were you menstruating when you posted this? I ask because your Bible associates menstruation with spiritual uncleanliness, so I'm guessing you'll want to avoid discussing religion while menstruating. Just sayin.
And while we're at it, don't forget to remain silent in church and remain submissive to your husband in all things.
You forgot Ephesians 5:25-33 - Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and surrendered himself for it.
Zadok wrote: If that's your work, that is a damn nice canoe. I worry about the integrity of the bottom however after being dragged ashore over those rocks.
No, I cannot claim that as my work. I'm a lazy and occasional artist. Every few years I'll tun out a sketch of average skill, usually by picking a photograph or pencil work by another artist and then attempting to reproduce it freehand (an example of one from a few years ago is at: http://i.imgur.com/NlVJlVw.jpg )
Maybe a commitment to more excessive canoodling (of any type) should be added to my list of New Year's resolutions, provided that my artistic 'canoodling' doesn't cut into my other canoodling time.
Amore wrote:DrW, While I see some truth in that a substantial cases of mental illness are rooted in religious cognitive distortions, it seems that many fail to realize such cognitive distortions are as prevelant if not more common in herd mentalities like Atheism and Liberalism. Check it out for yourself and you'll see.
Amore,
I saw what you did there. Gunnar referred to mental disorders, while you cleverly referred to cognitive disorders. If one does a search of the literature using these as separate search strings, there is some overlap in the literature retrieved. Overall, however, there is a greater divergence than one might expect. (And here I am talking about peer reviewed scientific literature, and not religionist websites, blogs, or magazine articles.)
Gunnar's <mental disorders religiosity> brings up any number of journal articles that describe a close and often complex clinical relationship between schizophrenia and religiosity. As one example, see [Siddle, et al., (2010) Mental Health, Religion & Culture pp 267-284]
There are dozens of other easily accessed papers that are relevant, including this review; [Mohr and Huguelet (2004) SWISS MED WKLY134:369–376].
Bottom line; religiosity is closely associated with schizophrenia. Religious practice or ideation are often a trigger for schizophrenic episodes and religious delusions are practically a hallmark of frank schizophrenia. They are prevalent in other forms of psychosis as well.
On the other hand <cognitive disorders religiosity> tends to return literature having to do with the general decline of cognitive function with age, Alzheimers, etc. In this case, the community support that is often associated with religious groups is clearly of benefit, as compared to those who do not have such supportive social networks. [Coin et al., (2010) Curr Alzheimer Res. 7(5):445-52.]
Bottom Line: Religious delusions are closely associated with mental illness. They are often exacerbated by, and can be a contributing factor in, several forms of this disease - especially schizophrenia.
Religious delusions lie along a spectrum; from those commonly expressed by TBMs and evangelical fundamentalists, to those elaborated by the institutionalized and chronically ill. And it is sometimes difficult to determine a bright line between the yellow and the red.
DrW,
Thank you for backing me up on this and providing the references I was initially too lazy to look up.
No precept or claim is more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
“If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.”
― Harlan Ellison
