Religious Fundamentalism 'May Be Categorised As Mental Illness & Cured By Science'

[IdaBriggs]

80. It is called "heresy" and the penalty *used to be* DEATH.

It wouldn't have been personal; it would have been to save everyone else from being contaminated by your lack of belief if you talked about how you didn't believe "everything as written."

It is one of the reasons that "freedom of religion" was a *MAJOR* big deal in the United States, and why control over religious institutions (which get to interpret "the truth&quot were life and death struggles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy

You might call yourself by (fill in the blank/religion of choice), and the names may have been co-opted by different folks ranging from snake handling pentecostals to the unitarians to the riverside baptists through the Roman versus Orthodox catholics and the mormons, but a quick check list into "articles of faith" might help identify the brand practiced.

To the rest of them, HERETIC or UNBELIEVER or IDIOT.

Personally, I try to have respect for all of them, especially since so many of them diverged based on personality conflicts within groups of believers. After a few years, people just assume their variant has "always" been around. Or that they can trace when their version of "the truth" became "the only way to get to heaven."