Home grown religious zealotsI posted a while back about my brother in Thailand & a weird set of circumstances he was in because of his faith in God( read about it here.) He opted to stay in Thailand after that frighting incident even though we implored him to leave. He insisted that he didn't want to leave his wife. Well, I'm sorry to say he is in the hospital again & come to find out he is not even legally married to his "wife" in Thailand.
Unfortunately, he is not even capable of getting himself home to the United States. Partly because of his health issues, mental & physical & partly because he has no money left after selling or giving away all his worldly goods.
So it is left to his family to foot the substantial bill to get him home, safe & sound. I love my brother & would never abandon him sick & alone in a foreign country. But, I have to say, I'm angry that he got himself in this predicament, by his stupid & blind faith in God & the Christian religion.
I was talking to my boss today about my brothers bi-polar condition & how he would get wound up during his manic phase.
My boss said, "You notice how this always seems to to the time that God talks to people?"
I'd never thought of it before, but it's true. I tend to have up & downs myself (not severely enough to be mentally ill, thank goodness) & I also went through a religious phase. I remember the state of mind I was in every time I was "enlightened". Looking back, there was a few times I sorta went off the beam, myself. Nothing as severe as giving away all my worldly goods & running off to a third world country.
I do think I've had enough experience & understanding of the situation to consider religious zealousness akin to mental illness.
I've personally seen people do some pretty wacky stuff in the name of God.
posted by Rita @ 9:54 AM
24 Comments
24 Comments:
Sorry to hear about your brother dear. I have a friend that has manic-depression also. I can barely take a hour with him any more. It's so wear'n and depressing. My friends and I were talk'n about him during Super Bowl. We all wished that our buddy would come back to us. But he can't. Every drug he's taken doesn't seem to work on him, unfortunately.
If there was a God he would be first on his list to cure. He's had a rough life. He's whole family was taken by mental illness.
God if your up there, bring Rick back. Amen.
you know wacky is a small word for what is happening in India right now :P But at least we are here to oppose it in the form of bloggers :P
There isn't a lot of religious zealot activity here in Quebec these days, mostly because there was a whole lot of it two generations ago that the last generation seriously rebelled against.
Partly because of his health issues, mental & physical & partly because he has no money left after selling or giving away all his worldly goods. So it is left to his family to foot the substantial bill to get him home, safe & sound.
I hope your family will be able to do that, though it sounds like it will cost them resources they can ill afford, especially nowadays.
Unfortunately you have to be prepared for the possibility that he will eventually get into another such situation. Talking a person out of religious zealotry like that is almost impossible.
As for the Phelps nuts, the striking thing about them is that they are simply expressing what the Bible really says (homosexuality is such an "abomination" that one must be put to death for even a single act), and yet even the broad mass of people who claim to be Christian consider them crazy and repulsive. Back in the Dark Ages, no one stood around with signs saying "God hates fags" for the same reason that no one stood around with signs saying "the Sun rises in the east". It was utterly the conventional viewpoint. Today it's become lunatic fringe. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone even in the mainstream Christian Right who will come straight out and say that anyone who has had even one homosexual experience should get the death penalty, even though that's what the Bible says. We really have come a long way.
That brother thing is frustrating. Silly families, always up to some sort of guff aren't they.
I'd agree that religiosity is akin to mental illness. Mind you, those burning Buddhist monk shows were fantastic.
This is yet another reason why the Bible (all religious books) ought to have a warning sticker on it.
Smoke and mirrors and a little bit of jive talking, is it any wonder that people do crazy things? Be it chasing rainbows or making a getaway for the US-Mexico border after robbing a bank, there is plenty of delusion in the world, some or most of it is God generated and the rest is probably drug generated.
Thank you for talking last night, I was really worried about "him". He was OK later, but just bareley.
Your family has as many crazy problems as mine. just different.
I hope your Bro ends up safe.
(((hug)))
wally although I knew my brother had "problems" I never thought it was this serious. But, obviously if a person puts them self in a dangerous situation like that...
Vishesh Yes. Lets hope we can all continue to speak out against religious wrongs.
philI think Americans are becoming less tolerate of religious zealot activity. I'm sure we can thank the events in the last few years for that.
infidel I agree.We've come a long way.
It's taking humanity a long time to understand what religion is all about(if that is the right way to put it)We have just gotten to the point where a sizable part of the population feels comfortable questioning religious influences, publicly & personally.
G3T
I don't think religion creates mental illness. I do think if a person is inclined that way that religion can certainly bring it out.
I have to tell you your bird guy avatar, cracks me up. :)
qf This is yet another reason why the Bible (all religious books) ought to have a warning sticker on it.
Like: Reading This Book Can Be Hazardous To Your Mental Health
Bryan You are welcome. I'm glad to hear "he" is OK. Hang in there. [[[hug]]]
I think Americans are becoming less tolerate of religious zealot activity. I'm sure we can thank the events in the last few years for that.
Well, when "religious zealot activity" includes hijacking airplanes and crashing them into skyscrapers, even the most tolerant among us may start to feel a tad intolerant.....
Here's another reminder of what life in a religion-dominated society is like.
I like:
Warning: The fictional contents of this book do not make people exempt from causality, reality, nor from the laws of their native lands.
No. But I think Religion is a form of mental illness. I mean, these people honestly believe their invisible friend gives them advice. My invisible friend says that's a bit weird... but I don't listen to him when he's that drunk.
The avatar... That's the way I look!
Any belief which we call "religious" when a million people hold it would probably be called "insanity" if only one person held it.
In fact, the same is probably true the other way around.
I just added "Liberaland" to my list of political blogs, lol, Alan Colmes is such a liberal commie though. Anyhow, American Atheists on the podcast.
infidel Ugh! about the link: That sort of thing really frosts me. I do not understand how people in those societies can't see how unfair that kind of reasoning is.
G3T I guess I can't really consider concepts of religion a sign of mental illness because it seems so inherent in our psychological(?)makeup. I find religious concepts to be primitive constructs. Consider the link infidel provided...could we call the majority in religious-dominated societies mentally ill? Or are they just backward?
qf That can only be Good! Be careful...some of that commie Liberalism might rub off on you. :)
being mentally ill at least gives one an excuse for believing in fairies, but there are plenty of people who appear to be right of mind - and insist there is an invisible and omnipotent being that oversees our lives. Of course there is gullibility.
but there are plenty of people who appear to be right of mind - and insist there is an invisible and omnipotent being that oversees our lives.
I think "appear" is the critical word that needs examining here. :-)
Ugh! about the link: That sort of thing really frosts me. I do not understand how people in those societies can't see how unfair that kind of reasoning is.
It follows perfectly logically if one takes Islamic law and the Islamic sacred texts at their word, just as the "God hates fags" position is unavoidable for anyone who accepts the plain and straightforward language of the Bible as literal truth, or just as gassing Jews would make sense if we gave Mein Kampf the same sanctified status. Evil, twisted behavior is the inevitable fruit of evil, twisted beliefs.
rev There are degrees of belief & what is called faith. Quite a few years ago in Oregon, a man forced his children to starve because he insisted God would provide food exclusively by the power of prayer. Consequently one of his children died of starvation before the authorities got wind of the situation. The man was considered mentally ill. Of course not all Christians are that extreme. Then again there are people who are not Christian who kill their own Children for one extreme reason or another. There was a case not too long ago where a woman had drunk herself into a stupor & had allowed one of her children to die of starvation & neglect.
infidelSo the power of Mein Kampf is in that it retains a religious status. Interesting...
I find it intriguing that religion always seems to play a large role in political power plays.
The GOOD news is that the political dominance of the evangelical right is over. They haven't gone away but the Obama administration has come out publicly in support of science and scientists have a large backlog of work to apply with which to bring progress to our country. This ripples around the world - King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia took power in 2005, and it is only now that he has kicked out the religious conservatives and has actually placed a couple women into government positions. After years of criticizing their draconian policies, I think he waited until the republicans were ousted to make a move. After all, we have propped up the Saudi royal family since the 1950's when they would have certainly have been overthrown decades ago.
Rita: I have transcended the need for (1st) a religious position, (2nd) a scientific worldview, and (3rd) a political affiliation. I should only believe what is logical or objective from now on, I figure that doing more fair listening and less dogmatic instructing is a better way of arriving at the truth.
PS....don't underestimate the beliefs of the theists, particularly the ones whom are good at compartmentalizing things. If somebody believes a crazy story and they are successful at something then don't discredit the expertise, what I'm learning now.
Wow, are we still religious zealot-ing over here.
"it seems so inherent in our psychological(?)makeup"
Sure, so as a species we're inherently freak'n crazy. I think that's a given.
The brain is gelatinous globule of electro-chemical vibration that is constantly upset by external phenomena - one should never take anything one perceives very seriously.
i get more tips with 2 outfits than any others. can u guess which 1's? yes ur rite, a catholic school girl & a nun. want 2 read a story that has a good moral. yes u do, cum over.
'one should never take anything one perceives very seriously'. Could we expect less from a Chimp wearing a pope costume?
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