Someone once referred to Religion as a form of mental illness.
I think there is a very fine line which religion walks between belief and insanity.
I spent a few hours earlier this week reading through transcripts from the Elizabeth Smart case.
There are still a lot of questions which I have about it.
I don't doubt the young girl was taken against her will, and the piece of crap who abducted her both raped and abused her for 9 months.
I'm pretty sure he has enough understanding to know what he was doing was wrong, even though I think he is mentally ill as well.
He's a pervert and while I personally don't like the death penalty, it may actually be appropriate in his case.
I have a number of friends in law-enforcement as well, and those with inside knowledge question the involvement of the father in this case as well. I doubt he was involved in her abduction, but I wonder if there was something else... His actions surrounding the abduction leave a lot of questions. I have to wonder if perhaps he was worried that her abduction might bring to light shady business dealings with either the local government or the Church or perhaps both. I have no evidence, just a hunch, but regardless, this is not the topic of this post.
Something caught my attention while I was reading through it Elizabeth's testimony. It had to do with the LDS Church.
Apparently Mr. Mitchell believes that the LDS Church is true, or rather was true, up through the reign of Ezra Taft Benson.
Benson was the Prophet in the early 80's and was very outspoken about the dangers of Communism and that kind of thing.
Mr. Mitchell believes that the Church fell away from the truth after Benson's death.
I found this interesting, because a lot of wacko's in Mormonism really like Benson.
He was the source of the 14 fundamentals for following the prophet, something which even those who don't like it when the LDS Church is called a cult, have trouble defending.
There is a bunch of other stuff he did as well which the fundamentalist types like.
Those who like Benson seem to be toying with the fine line though.
The line between being really into your religion and turning into a wack-job.
A somewhat disjointed post today, but there you have it.
In other news... The Koda Clan is currently being LOVE BOMBED!!
More details to come.
I agree. Belief in something you can't see, and the need to trust other human beings to tell you what God wants (who if you don't obey might burn you for eternity) without any proof of their authority, opens the door to all sorts of atrocities and other such very bad behavior.
ReplyDeleteHave you read *Under the Banner of Heaven"? I think it dovetails into this topic perfectly.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're being love bombed?! Ah! Yay? **snicker**
I agree that there's a fine line between religion and insanity, but religion is, I think, usually the vessel rather than the inspiration. Yes, there've been some crazy religious nuts who've just happened to be LDS...but Jim Jones was a Methodist. There's nothing inherently crazy in the teachings of Methodism--at least, no more so than any other mainstream protestantism.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I never got love bombed. I'm almost nostalgic for the experience (probably 'cause I never got love bombed). I got told I was possessed by Satan, though.
Ah yes, I had problems with those "14 Fundamentals of Following the Prophet" ever since the first time I heard the list. Indeed kinda hard to not consider the church a cult when it becomes more and more like one every year.
ReplyDeleteBut since Rock already posted about the false doctrine being preached over the pulpit at conference without any kind of correction, I can't really add much.
"Someone once referred to Religion as a form of mental illness."
ReplyDeleteI had once made reference in a post a year ago were some believe Religion is a form of mental illness.
To be more clear with that, I would say that religion can either create mental illness or it can attract the mentally ill. Using myself as an example, it was the core in creating mental illness in me.
At the risk of getting onto the semantics with words here, religion itself can't actually be a form of mental illness. It's only an idea that must be acted upon. Although, I would say that Religion is insane. Acting upon insanity will pretty much induce mental illnesses of some form.
So in my post when I talked about dealing with really religious people, it had to be approached with the skill of a therapist or psychiatrist. I never got into to the nit-picky detail as to why it was necessary. But it had to do with the effects that religious conversions have on corrupting the ego's defence mechanisums. Once the ego's defense mechanisms have been corrupted to a very large extent, deep insanity ensues. The results often involve heavy conflict and possible violence.
Religion and mental illness are sometimes separated by a fine line, and sometimes twins. I recommend watching Dr. Robert Sapolsky's lecture on the role of OCD and schizotypal disorder in shaping ancient religions.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate note, Smart's kidnapper is the scum of the earth. I hope he rots in prison for a long, long time.
"a lot of wacko's in Mormonism really like Benson."
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Hey Koda, I like Benson! You're hurting my feelings here.
Granted, the 14 Fundamentals talk was way out of line, and a clear anomaly even for him. Chalk it up, perhaps, to his approaching senility; maybe the talk was ghost written and handed to him to deliver while he stood there on automatic pilot. I don't know. But it was a mess, all right.
But his warnings about the church falling into apostasy for rejecting the warnings of the the Book of Mormon were pretty spot on.
Having said that, I agree that some like David Mitchell were wont to take some of his teachings out of context and run off the rails with them.
@TGD - I think I may have heard it attributed to Sam Harris, but as I was searching to confirm that I came across a bunch of references. I liked this one a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnd your comments about religion and defense mechanisms... Brilliant! I did this several years ago I think, but I think leaving religion, especially one like Mormonism actually results in a chemical withdrawal. Just a theory, but perhaps one I need to explore and blog about again soon.
@Carla - I think you'll like the link I included above as well.
@Cog Dis - Not yet, but I was listening to Lyndon Lamborn's Excommunication Council last week, and that seemed to be the book that set his journey in motion. I've read summaries of the book, and I think I would enjoy it. Better add it to the Christmas list!
@C.J. - I think TGD did a good job of describing the relationship. It's a complex one to be sure, but I think there is definitely a number of connections between the two.
@Ahab - Thanks, I'll have to look into it! As for Smart's kidnapper... I think General Population at the State Prison would be good for him, especially after they televise Smarts testimony to the other inmates. Not a law of Moses fan myself, but a little receipt of the other prisoners affection would do him some good.
Sorry Rock!! It's not a mutually exclusive relationship between wacko's and Benson, just seems like a lot of Wacko's take his stuff and seem to run wild with it - like you said.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with him (Benson), mostly due to his Pride talk, which got used on me a number of times when I was a missionary... Had a companion who would whip out the talk every time he wanted something, read it with me and then ask for the thing he wanted, and if there was any resistance, he's start quoting from the talk. Not Benson's fault per say, but unfortunately his image and Elder F's will always be linked together in my mind.