Can religion make some lose touch with reality?

1. 91

   peeplesposted 11 years ago

   Can religion make some lose touch with reality?
   
   I'm not asking as an attack or implying all believers are delusional. However I have noticed there are SOME who seem to be really delusional, like they have lost touch with reality while on their quest to find their beliefs. How does this happen and how do they not notice how far they have gone? When I say delusional I am referring to the extremists of religions.

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   JThomp42posted 11 years ago

   Yes. As with anything else, it can be taken too far. I have known of people who actually lose their minds over religion. Crashing planes into buildings because they think 100 virgins are waiting on them in Heaven for instance. Religion can also be a great manipulator as well.

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      lone77starposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      And then there are government-corporate psychopaths who get the general public to believe the delusion that Muslims crashed planes. Ego is the malleable clay they mold. Ego is "first;" humility is "last."

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      Mklow1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Then there are also those that are delusional enough to believe crazy conspiracy theories.

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3. 70

   dashingscorpioposted 11 years ago

   Extremists are blinded by their beliefs and loyalties whether it's religion, politics, or even their views concerning their own children in comparison to other children. Extremists see compromise as weakness, changing one's mind after getting new information is "flip flopping", and  simply listening to another point of view is self destructive. The goal of an extremist is to convert or destroy others.
   Live and let live is not an option! :-)

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   SmartAndFunposted 11 years ago

   I would say yes to this question. The other day I was making inane, polite chit chat with a dad -- someone I don't know -- at my kid's school. We were talking about the weather. I mentioned how gorgeous the Texas fall weather was that day. He replied that God was rewarding us with this beautiful weather across the state because our state-level elected officials in Austin had voted in restrictions on women's reproductive rights. I was dumbfounded. That is delusional, in my book.

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   DDEposted 11 years ago

   It is possible for one to lose touch with reality,  when extremely religious and this can make one isolated and beehive differently too

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   Sri Tposted 11 years ago

   The great cosmic joke is: there is no reality. Everything is a product of imagination. Whether they imagine in small amounts or huge amounts, what's the difference? It's still all imagination. If they get a kick out of ridiculous concepts, the fantastic or mythology, that's their trip. If it makes them happy or a better person, that's even a greater plus. No one can prove anything. What works for one may not work for another. The laws may be written in stone, but even the stone crumbles into nothingness. Even the so called logical minded will find that they are deluded if they persist in their logic long enough. It becomes man made nonsense that won't even be around a thousand years from now. Everybody lives in a dream world of their own making. Some dreams are pleasant, some are nightmares. But they are all internal creations by their thinking, and building it every day. So the question is: what is reality without concepts?

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      lupineposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, our imagination is endless, but not everything becomes a reality.

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   MizBejabbersposted 11 years ago

   I think so. You’ve heard the expression, “she’s so heavenly minded that she’s of no earthly good”. I believe it was coined for just that. I know someone who Polyanna’s her way through life because of her convictions, but then I have to listen to her complain about the mess her life is in because she doesn’t take care of problems as they arise. I mean, God doesn’t take care of every mundane problem; God expects us to work out some things for ourselves.

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      ChristinSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have a relative like this and I can relate to you.  Everything is collapsing around them, but God is going to fix it.

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   Deepes Mindposted 11 years ago

   Good question. Yes, religion can certainly cause a person to lose touch with reality. There are two ways it happens. There are some who latch onto a certain teaching to fulfil something missing in life or a deep hurt. People don't always realize it because they become swept up in the fervor of charisma.

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   M. T. Dremerposted 11 years ago

   I'm going to say no. I think that losing touch with reality is indicative of a psychological problem with the individual, not necessarily the fault of the religion. Having said that, it is true that religion nurtures such a disconnect with reality. For example, if someone is out on the street, screaming at the sky about aliens, we all walk around him, assuming the guy is crazy and needs help. If someone does the same thing, but screams at the sky about Jesus, we're less likely to think he is crazy. That's a bit of an exaggerated example, but my point is that a totally crazy person could be overlooked because they happened to focus their crazy on a widely accepted modern mythology.

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10. 68

    thumbi7posted 11 years ago

    Yes there are some who attribute everything around ti religion or God. They conveniently forget that they are facing the effect of their own actions. It is easy to have sch superstitions and escape from hardwork and own responsibilities.. Also you feel very secured that someone above is doing everything for you...

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    mintinfoposted 11 years ago

    I say, too much of anything make you an addict. Religious extremism can be associated with drugs because it produces the same effect in the brain. It causes Dopamine release which gives one pleasure and satisfaction. Coveting too much favor from God can warp ones reality to the point of self destructiveness. I have seen people nail themselves to crosses and wear crowns of thorns. To a non believer it seems preposterous and I say "to each his own" but it is people that are willing to kill others for a heavenly reward that are the most dangerous.

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    krillcoposted 11 years ago

    Perhaps the source of losing touch with reality is not the religion but unbalanced mental health. Put a very sick person in a religious context, and great abuse can happen.

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    lupineposted 11 years ago

    Yes, because their beliefs are such a deep-rooted part of their life. They are not necessarily delusional, but very set in their ways...not looking to change. Their life seems to be the same, with their religious beliefs, no matter how much the world and people around them change. The extremists you mentioned are in their own world and nothing can distract them. No, they are not aware of being "far gone", as you say, it is normal to them, so they are content.

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    lone77starposted 11 years ago

    Peeples, it doesn't just happen in religion. It happens with any topic to which a person becomes fervently attached.
    
    This creates a "survival interest" in the individual. When ego gets bruised, the person suffers mentally as if they have been injured physically (which of course they have not). They will defend their prized viewpoint to the death.
    
    When you know how to recognize this malady, it's almost funny to see it in a scientist, politician, military officer or anyone else not at all religious. Funny, but sad.
    
    Take science, for instance. The "Clovis First" dogma in American anthropology a few years back was almost a religion in it self. Scientists who dug below the Clovis horizon were ridiculed. This took me by surprise. Science by ridicule? Yes, it happens. All too often. Now, Clovis First is dead. The mavericks in science were able to find numerous sites far older than Clovis, and even in South America. Those who did the ridiculing were living a delusion.
    
    When 2 scientists came up with cold fusion, the scientific establishment went berserk. But now, quietly, behind the scenes, a few mavericks in physics are finding out why others were unable to duplicate what Pons and Fleischmann were able to do in their own lab. Microscopic imperfections in the terminals were critical for those failures, but invisible to the naked eye. Again, the ridiculers were living a delusion and stopping progress just to protect their egos.
    
    When NIST scientists committed fraud to protect the government's story of 9/11, most everyone else went along with their delusion. But people are slowly waking up to the fact that the government cannot be trusted. It wasn't just those lies about WMDs. There is one very powerful group who are masters at shaping public delusion. They play our egos like a symphony.
    
    Even moderates in religion can be delusional. Anyone with an ego to protect is going to bend their own perception of reality to give their ego the best possible protection.
    
    Ego really is an equal-opportunity destroyer.

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    ChristinSposted 11 years ago

    Like others I think anything can cause this - not just religion.  Your question called to mind cults though with me.  There was the one group that comitted mass suicide during the Hale-Bopp comet back in the mid 90's or something. 
    
    Then of course the whole Jim Jones think where they drank poison - horrific.  David Koresh, Charles Manson - all cult leaders who used religion and other tactics to manipulate the minds of others - and quite effectively. 
    
    Religion itself I don't think is what causes the loss of touch, but it is manipulated to create or fuel the psychological illness that does lead to the disconnect.

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    Mklow1posted 11 years ago

    If a person is delusional, it does not matter if they are believers in a religion or not, they are just delusional. Typically the extremist of anything are delusional personalities, so this is not specific only to the belief in a religion.

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