Calling religion a mental illness

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I worked at a cafe and I had a few people that had a bill come to $6.66,they asked me to charge them an extra penny.One day the Missouri Lotto pick Three was 666,I bet no one won.

Why all this picking on sixes? Why does there have to be one number that's supposedly worse than the others? Again, it's this concept of an evil force or devil. People don't want to own up to their own bad luck or rotten ways.

3:33 is suppose to be a bad time to wake up at night.

I've done that before

i like seeing 1:11 on any clock..

It' just kool..

i like ones..

and really all numbers...

i guess i'm fair and balanced2..haha..:)

The proper thing to do is to use the principle of Occam's razor (parsimony).

The two simplified arguments (atheism and theism in general) are:

Atheism:
A singularity of some kind appears. This causes the big bang to occur.

Theism:
God exists. God creates a singularity. This causes the big bang to occur.


With the first argument, you are assuming one thing happened which is theoretical. With the second argument, you are assuming one thing is true which is hypothetical and another thing happened which is theoretical. The first argument then is more probable.

666 is the number of the beast in Revelations. also throughout the Bible 6 is a number that represents imperfection and impurity.

In Chinese culture, the number 6 is a lucky number. Apparently after looking up more information on it the number 6 in specific brings luck to affairs of business and is lucky because the Chinese word for 6 sounds like the word flow in Chinese. I suppose you can interpret this as meaning the flow of business or money increases.



Also ot religion being referred to as a mental illness is a euphemism that some atheists like to use. Religious belief does share some characteristics with certain mental illnesses, but religion does not necessary make someone mentally ill. Sure there are cases of people who are mentally ill from religion, but these people are outliers and not the main population of religious people.

Last edited by daar on 24 Jan 2014, 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It would be funny to wear a shirt that says 666 on it to church and see how many negative reactions you will get by christians!

I don't think of numbers as lucky or unlucky. When it comes to money, I know the bigger the number, the more fortunate I am. So, that's one example of me showing bias.

Well..i haven't gone that far..but in my time as an anthropologist/participant observer..in studying the religions in my area as an actual participant..

I have worn quite a few interesting shirts..in part to observe the response....

One of those LK shirts with the pharaoh..on it..

An LK shirt with a big Tiger on it...

A Superman shirt..on midnight Mass..

And i have not worn long pants to church yet..or anywhere else for that matter....

Even in 18 degree temperatures...

Seriously ..the only issue i have received so far...

Is older ladies kinda flirting with me...

About the wearing shorts thing..

And yeah i've received some smiles about the shirts..

But no real problems...

The internet..and greater freedom of expression..is seriously killing church attendance..in
the southern baptist churches where i live...

And compared to when i was a teenager back in the 70's.. the church functions were loaded with
teenagers...

The gospel singing events i have been going to lately..range about 90% of folks well over 60..

The rest above 30...

And the occasional child that is tagging along..

OR a teenager ..that is one of the church employees kids...

But church attendance 'overall' is dying..and there are statistics since the early 2000's that provide
evidence for this nationwide...

What once was one of the few singular forces for dopamine stimulation per the so called opiate of the masses effect...

Is almost everywhere we look now..per instant gratification..in screen stimulation ..which a powerful..dopamine
stimulator..in general.. per bright light..even without the video games..pornography...etc..

And in general...

Everything goes...now....

But the bigger thing is..the majority of Americans are no longer buying the myths..that homosexuals are evil...

OR other folks that were not raised in their religion..are going to hell..because they didn't listen to the 3:16 verse in the bible..etc..etc..etc....

AND

Unless the churches adjust ..to basic common sense..and basic science..

They are simply doomed as far as i see...

These 65 and 70 year old folks might live another 10 or 15 years..and keep some of these churches going...

But many of the rest are in the dire circumstance of closing in the next couple of decades...

They have already discontinued the Wednesday Night and Sunday Night services in many churches...in my local area..

And it IS serious big business..where i live..

One of the few ways at one time ..that a person could make a living in my little town..other than working at Monsanto..and other plants..

or like me.. spending my life working for the government for over 2 decades..at the local military installation...

But it's subsistence...and i certainly cannot blame anyone

for wanting to eat..even if it comes from the church offering...after potentially brightening up

a few folks lives..with uplifting words..of whoever may deliver them..and whatever may be said..sung..or played..

to lift folks higher..

But we have youtube now..

Seriously who needs church..when ya got youtube and a smart phone..to get uplifting music by a selection of an almost countless number of
songs that pleased a person throughout their life....and that's one of many many examples that the new age of Information Technology Brings..it is basically becoming GOD..per that opiate effect..in many ways..i think..but i do not see the difference in the power of musicK whether it is Katy Perry singing a song..or one of the folks in my church choir..as long as the end result is uplifting...It is all GOD to me..anyway....

But i like people..and i enjoy interacting with them no matter if i agree with them or not...

So i'll probably keep going to church the rest of my life..at my local Catholic church..as long as they do not start
delivering any hate messages about other religions..and homosexuals and all of that...

I already helped nip that in the bud..where one deacon attempted to do it..and the priest agreed with me..

THIS IS extremely refreshing to me...and it will keep me..offering a few dollars..in the collection basket..each Sunday...

But hell no..not 10 percent..

I do not play by those kind of dogmatic rules at all.....

Creativity is considered a mental illness so the association of a mental state not associated with dysfunction isnt unique to religion. It would be more accurate to say that both creativity and religion involve neural mechanisms which are manifested in mental illness. There is a subtle difference between this and suggesting that they are in fact full blown mental conditions.