One summer, while driving between immense corn fields in South Carolina, I listened to a Christian, mental-health call-in show. Got a delusion that’s bothering you? Here, try this one on for size. I learned that most cases of anxiety and depression are caused by un-governed thoughts and emotions.
Hmm. Why hadn’t I, a psychology professor (at the time) current with the field, known that? Anxiety and depression, two very common forms of mental illness, are caused by “un-governed” thoughts and emotions. Logically, the cure would be for a person to govern their thoughts and emotions. Whatever that means.
According to the Christian therapist, if you are anxious or depressed, you’re basically not trying hard enough. You’re not praying enough. It absolutely has to be your fault because Jesus is ready to bless you, if you just let him. The Christian version of Dr. Phil informed the listener–a concerned mother of a teenage boy nearly crippled by anxiety–that the boy must cast down his un-governed thoughts and replace these with thoughts about their god and his words.
Yah, that ought to help. Poor kid is buckling under some load (biological, psychological, social…), so they inform him he’s got to shoulder some more.
Their god is all-powerful, the creator of everything, but what happens to you is your responsibility. If your corn crop gets ruined by drought, you must have fallen from grace. Or perhaps you broke your covenant with Monsanto. If your child is having problems, and it’s not the outright work of Satan, then your god is testing you. As the mother learned her god was testing her, by way of her son’s troubles. So she needed to pray more, too.
But why would a god test his people? Is he afraid they’re going to flunk the Eternal Aptitude Test without serious tutoring? Or is he testing them “just because”?
Our complex world can be frustrating, with few simple causes and few guaranteed cures. Treating illness by pressing your palms together and mumbling some words makes as much sense to me as using a garlic poultice for everything from a head cold to a broken leg.
Is religion always harmful? Of course not. Always helpful? Of course not. What religion does consistently represent and promote, however, is an outmoded way of viewing the world.
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Tags: Christianity, Freethought Musings, religion
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