Why isn't religion or belief in an imaginary god considered a split personality or mental illness?

They belief it to be true so it is! Don't people who believe without a shadow of a doubt that aliens have abducted them are considered nuts...same proof scale as religion. So how can you say aliens are nuts and religion isn't.





Doesn't make sense to me!





(okay go...I am sure everyone has passionate beliefs so I'll respect yours, if you respect mine-Lets play nice!)..Thanks for all the answers in advance!Why isn't religion or belief in an imaginary god considered a split personality or mental illness?
I've wondered this very thing for a long time! There is definitely serious psychosis at work with the people who ';talk to god';.Why isn't religion or belief in an imaginary god considered a split personality or mental illness?
Hey,I did not ';yell'; at you. As a matter of fact; I gave you the ';star';. Only 1 of the answers you recieved could be remotely construed as 'yelling'; at you, and it expresses mild chastizing... You don't accept email so I'm hoping you see this. That ';yelling'; at you remark hurt my feelings!

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Lol! ';Bring it';; huh? Good for you!


Ahem...


I believe in God. I do NOT say that alien abductees are nuts. (I wasn't there...). I see your point; I have trouble understanding why some think ';God'; and ';The Big-Bang Theory'; are mutualy exclusive.


Um...your premise that the same ';proof'; scale exists for religion and alien abductions is flawed..There IS proof that the mesiahs for the various religions DID (and do) exist.


Equating belief in a religion and mental illness is just ';asking for it!'; lol! }:%26gt;
Very intresting question but perhaps we should examine the perception from an other perspective one that holds belief in anything other than the totality of God as being insane and not the other way around. This is more the truth than believing through our limited perception the infinite nature of God is imaginary. Who says aliens are nuts without admitting they exist. Crazy aliens or not at least someone believes in something. Do you?
The main reason? Because (for the most part) there is no dysfunction. For a condition to be diagnosed, it must have the proper symptoms and some level of social, physical, mental dysfunction. Some people with schizophrenia believe they have been given orders by Jesus himself - when they try to carry out these orders or strongly believe in such dillusions, the person has some dysfunction. However, many who are religious (or even believe in aliens, ghosts, or other irrational things) are simply that - irrational, not crazy.
I better hurry and answer before they come take me away.


I agree with you.


Taking it a step farther, there are some the feel they have to sacrifice and suffer, beating themselves bloody. Is this the acts of a sane person?
The only reason why belief in God isn't considered a symptom of mental illness is because its a popular belief. Much of what we stigmatize as mental illnesses simply depends on what's common behavior and what isn't.
As long as you believe in something greater, whether it be aliens or gods, then you are okay. The arrogant idea of their being nothing else is what is crazy.
Society is FULL of double standards, and this is one of the more glaring examples.


Despite our 'official', albeit de-facto, separation of church and state, our culture grew from roots that made no distinction between these institutions. In Europe, the church ruled supreme during the ';dark ages';. There were localized political rulers, but they were little less subject to domination by the church than the lowest peasants in their kingdoms. Popes had the power to depose kings and set new kings in their place, and used that power whenever it suited their purposes to do so.





The surviving cultural residue from this is a vague mindset remaining that religion is 'officially' okay and acceptable while other, equally nebulous, viewpoints are not.





In some of my writings, I have identified and described what I call the ';DorM Syndrome'; - DorM standing for 'Deny or Mystify'. It describes the two extremes with which any philosophically controversial subject is treated.


The 'Deniers' will go to any lengths - no matter how absurd or extreme to discredit and deny the existence of the phenonomenon in question, while the 'Mystifiers' enthusiastically embrace the idea of its existence and then go on to imbue and endow it with all sorts of mystical significances and complications it doesn't really have.


The true ';DorM';er is a combination of the two - mystifying his/her OWN belief(s) and denying those of OTHERS. They are opposite sides of the coin, it is ture, but it is the SAME ugly coin nonetheless! (Yes, churches are among the WORST offenders in this category!)





So it is into this already-hostile climate that any new ideas or phenomena (like alien abductions) come where they have to fight for their existence with two strikes against them before they even pick up the bat.





When - or should I more realistically say ';IF'; - we reach a point where everything is no longer looked at from a ';it doesn't exist'; or ';it exists and is this wildly mysterious, mystical thing'; viewpoint, but rather is examined from a ';this is interesting, let's see what more we can learn about it and figure out how knowledge of it can better our quality of life'; viewpoint, then and ONLY THEN will these insane double standards finally become a thing of the past.
I do not believe that believing in something that can't concretely be proven is a mental illness. I am a perfectly rational and sane polytheist.





And you are not respecting others' beliefs if you are saying that they have a mental illness for believing what they do.