Religious Beliefs a Delusion?

Nonbelievers may often think that religious believers are deluded, but could it be that there really is a close connection between psychiatric delusions and religious beliefs? It is true that people with identifiably mental illnesses can experience, as one of the symptoms 'hyper-religiosity,' so perhaps the line between the two is not as sharp as people normally assume.

That, at least, was one of the ideas that came out of an international conference in Sydney a couple of years ago:

“The line between psychosis and intense religiosity is a bit of a difficult one to draw,” [Macquarie University PhD student Ryan McKay] said. He said many religious beliefs were triggered by a “religious experience”, often produced by changes in brain activity.

Could it be that religion is simply a popular delusion? But if it is so popular, is it still a psychiatric problem?

One problem with linking to two very closely is that we shouldn’t mistake correlation with causation. Given how popular and important religion is in American society, it should be expected that it will be the basis for symptoms of mental illness — just as it is the basis for things like art and moral concepts. You can’t avoid religion anywhere else, so why think that it won’t be equally common in mental illness?

The key may be to find ways to factor religion out. For example, is hyper-religiosity a symptom among those who, prior to the onset of their illness, had no particular religion at all? Is hyper-religiosity just as common in societies where religion is decreasing in popularity?

 

Read More:

• Critical Thinking
• Religion 101
• Theism 101
• Does God Exist?