Are atheists mentally ill? The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability

Kind of tit for tat.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Don't get all huffy and puffy, just having a little fun at your expense.



Why Religion Matters Even More: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability

Thanks to a couple of surveys, it’s being put about in certain circles that atheists have higher IQs than believers. That may or may not be the case, but one problem with this argument is that, if you accept "average group differences in IQ”, you get into all sorts of sinister debates which bien pensant atheist Lefties might find less to their liking.
blogs.telegraph.co.uk...
let’s see who is living more intelligently.

And guess what: it’s the believers. A vast body of research, amassed over recent decades, shows that religious belief is physically and psychologically beneficial – to a remarkable degree.

In 2004, scholars at UCLA revealed that college students involved in religious activities are likely to have better mental health. In 2006, population researchers at the University of Texas discovered that the more often you go to church, the longer you live. In the same year researchers at Duke University in America discovered that religious people have stronger immune systems than the irreligious. They also established that churchgoers have lower blood pressure.

Meanwhile in 2009 a team of Harvard psychologists discovered that believers who checked into hospital with broken hips reported less depression, had shorter hospital stays, and could hobble further when they left hospital – as compared to their similarly crippled but heathen fellow-sufferers.

So which is the smart party, here? Is it the atheists, who live short, selfish, stunted little lives – often childless – before they approach hopeless death in despair, and their worthless corpses are chucked in a trench (or, if they are wrong, they go to Hell)? Or is it the believers, who live longer, happier, healthier, more generous lives, and who have more kids, and who go to their quietus with ritual dignity, expecting to be greeted by a smiling and benevolent God?

'God-spot' research finds faith hard-wired in the brain

If this is true are they a screw or wire loose?

www.nzherald.co.nz...

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Wow. I'm a little offended you didn't put much effort into that besides copy and pasting. Surely we atheists deserve a little more enthusiasm than that? Where's the cat fighting and the accusations and the bible thumping righteous indignation? At least make it interesting!

For the record, as soon as I saw how much personal investment you didn't put into this thread, I laughed at it. These jimmies have remained thoroughly unrustled. Nice try though.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

Wow. I'm a little offended you didn't put much effort into that besides copy and pasting. Surely we atheists deserve a little more enthusiasm than that? Where's the cat fighting and the accusations and the bible thumping righteous indignation? At least make it interesting!

edit on 17-8-2013 by AfterInfinity because: (no reason given)

That all ya got?


Hey it took courage can you imagine the lambasting I am gonna get?

laughed at it

I laughed too

reply to post by Stormdancer777


I repeat: my jimmies are unrustled, n00b. Greatest insult in all of the interwebs. You have failed as a troll.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

I repeat: my jimmies are unrustled, n00b. Greatest insult in all of the interwebs. You have failed as a troll.

Darn, one of my many failures.


Hey
Christians get a lot of abuse on this forum, you can handle a little.

You believe in an invisible dude with magical powers and you're calling us mentally ill?

Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes. Self deception can easily fool the mind into a state of false happiness. Religion is still retarding and retarded.

OK! you guys are going to have to do better then this.

I heard it all before, tell me something I don't know.

hey

reply to post by Stormdancer777


On the other hand, being around Christians all the time is not good for the blood pressure either.

Originally posted by NeoParadigm
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

On the other hand, being around Christians all the time is not good for the blood pressure either.

Can you spot one just by looking at them?

reply to post by Stormdancer777


You are correct in linking the social ramification of atheism on a social structural hierarchy that is based on religious tradition as the same religious social structuring has provided generational stability through shared belief systems and helped to maintain integrity of the social moral code and ethics.
The question now is can an atheist civilization really last and what shape would the moral code impart upon it, would it be like a replica of "Logans run" were once you were no longer of use to the hive like society you would be euthanized and your body used for whatever purpose, I shudder to think of the possibility of such a horrible society and we have already seen the impact of Atheism in our health service here in the UK were the medical staff were literally killing our old folk off with something called the 'liverpool car pathway'.
In a religious state there are guide lines that direct your attitude and behavior to your fellow man and these provide a stringent code by which a social engineer can effectively organize society, the elderly and the sick are treated as equals and given the care they need with the exception of the concept of Karma which lacks the Judeo christian ethics that define the west traditional beliefs (Even if we seldom lived up to them).
All in all even if I was an atheist I would want to live in a country that was traditionally governed and structured under entrenched christian tradition.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


I wasn't talking about judging people on first sight.

What do you mean?

atheists are actually able to handle the idea there is no god, no heaven, and no devil, all the while being able to function socially, as well as in a well-adjusted family setting. critical-thought is as strong as human passion, letting neither interfere to much, or too little, in our relationships with others.

reply to post by jimmyx



There are wonderful people that come from all walks of life I know this, you know this.

Years of reading the Christian bashing on the forum makes me wonder if you actually are able to accept others that believe differently.

?
Hey
It is always either one or the other, isn't it?

Having been an Atheist once, and now a Christian Mystic, I have come to the following conclusion.

Majority of Atheists are head strong analytical logic-based individuals. We need people to build infrastructure (engineers), Surgeons (to be emotionally cold and focus on the job), mechanics, etc.

Majority of Spiritual folks are intuitively strong (since intuition is used to connect with God). Someone has to remind the others that if you go within and find your soul, there's a set of Universal morals/ethics already built within.

If you're too Head strong, you can become a cold narciccistic psychopath. If you're to intuitive based, then you become this free spirit lazy hippy drunk in spiritual bliss walking around not caring about a damn thing.

The 2 need balance. Too much of one or the other and bad things become of you

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Or is it the believers, who live longer, happier, healthier...

But you can say exactly the same thing about placebos.

In a hypothetical scenario, people are
1. deludedly happy in their "ignorance is bliss", or
2. have come to grips with reality

Evereything in your opening post says you'd prefer option 1, because it makes you happy.

Or in other words, exactly the situation Neo faced in The Matrix movie. Red or blue pill?

Congrats on the courage it took to make this thread and I tip my hat to you.

I'm also very amused by the reaction of the atheists that have responded. As you note, YEARS of Christian bashing like a local sport and pure entertainment, yields indignation at a thread like this which just makes me laugh out loud. It really does. Sometimes these folks are more entertaining than I know they ever meant to be but hey, it's a slow Saturday and I'll take my amusement where I can find it.

(You'd almost think the freedom of speech thing isn't extended to people who support religion or something, at times.)

reply to post by Stormdancer777

Years of reading the Christian bashing on the forum makes me wonder if you actually are able to accept others that believe differently.

Title:

Are atheists mentally ill?

I know it's not your title, but what do you expect.

I guess it's revenge for the "religious people are less intelligent" thread.

Turn the other cheek.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


I am gong to make some obvious statements.

Some people on planet Earth are mentally ill; some people are not.

Within every spiritual belief system; or lack thereof...you have mentally ill people and you have sane people.

So...no not all atheists are mentally ill; some people that believe in atheism are mentally ill and some are very sane.

The belief in atheism in and of itself did not make them mentally ill.

They already had the mental illness...no matter what their spiritual beliefs are or aren't.