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My intent to explain religion as autoschitzophrenia should not be insulting. How do you think people who suffer from malignant schitzophrenia feel about that?
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Intent matters, and i appriciate yours. But i'll still repeat my objection to pathologizing a viewpoint you do not agree with. Schizophrenia is a biological brain disorder, which should not be stigmatized...or conflated with things it is not. It is not a choice, or a point of view, like faith is. There is difference between religion and schizotype behavior. It needs to be made, for the dignity of EVERYONE involved.
the following is excerpted from my journal (edited for forum use):
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basically, i think its really debate ending and bigoted to come to a position of complete clarity that does not allow for the other to speak. when someone says to me that devout belief is the same as mental illness, i'm mad at them as a person who has lived with mental illness, and as a person of faith...and i have NO indication, whatsoever, that they will listen at all. better or worse, i read pretty much anything that gets posted on religion on the board-and i intend to read the argument both critically and sympathetically, to try to understand where the person is coming from, and to represent my reaction to that idea. but to simply declare that your adversaries are so wrong, as to be crazy...what room does that leave for a civil response? How is someone supposed to read something that is intended to demean their character, and react in a civil manner?
Its just as bad as some of these fundies who pathologize sexual orientation, and try to make their ideological enemies "insane" or "in need of therapy." Its coercive, its rude, it's absolutely below the standards of community.
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I'm not out to make you the evil guy for saying this. Nor is my reaction based soley on your comments...other board members have made very similar statements to me in the past. I nonetheless feel that its not okay to say, and am voicing that opposition, in hopes of reclaiming a positive tone for the debate.