Religion is a Mental Illness

Thanks.

My position is that not all points of view are equal. For example, when we’re trying to figure out dark matter, we don’t worry about considering the point of view of the scientific illiterate, or the alien abductee who thinks it’s the cloak of the mothership. We don’t need to genuinely consider the point of view of people who deny objective reality, like that 2+2=4, or that the Earth is round.

When it comes to god-belief, the points of view are as numerous and bespoke as the humans who hold those beliefs. Considering all of them is simply not feasible.

That there even are many different ones is itself concerning.

There are specific features shared by many of them. For example, Xtianity is beholden to the existence of Jesus as a divine creature, the son, and Earthly manifestation, of a god. Ditto the existence of Original Sin to necessitate salvation. Either salvation through belief, which condemns non-believers and rewards believers, no matter their morality. Or salvation through actions, which judges the entire spectrum of human behavior as a moral binary, drawing a line between two almost-the-same people and sending one side to heaven and the other side to eternal torture. The notion that eternal torture is just and good. The quran as a perfect guide from a perfect god delivered by a perfect prophet that says to beat your wife and cut the hands and feet off non-believers. Beliefs supported by god existence arguments that are circular and fallacious.

These are pretty much live-or-die features of these religions and belief systems, and they apply broadly. We need not delve down in to the more complicated apologetics or specifics of every denomination or every believer, when they can’t clear the common, broad hurdles. We need not be concerned about Sunni vs Shia dogma when it’s only Muhammad’s word that he’s the perfect prophet of a perfect god.

This is why I try/prefer to focus on why, not what. I don’t need to prepare an argument or a position on every point of view, nor research or consider them all if I state that I require evidence, verifiability, falsifiability, and arguments that are valid, sound and non-contradictory, and an explanation of why this claim is true. And the live-or-die features that they need to overcome in order to sit at the grown-up’s table.

This, to me, is a pretty useful, multi-purpose position, regardless of whether the subject is religion, supernatural claims, ideologies and movements, or alternative medicine and pseudoscience claims.

If there’s a point of view that I’m missing, one which falls between the cracks of what I think is bold, sweeping reasonableness, then they can come and see me.