Religious Belief = Mental Illness: A More Venomous Response

[mike_c]

159. oddly, I simply believe that I need to be less of a jerk....

That's a bit of a raw nerve, actually. Awareness of our shortcomings is painful. We all seek to be the best people we can be, or at least we should. It's a lifelong job, and then we're gone, usually before it's finished. But I'm embarked on it myself, without need for deities to tell me so.

I don't want to make this personal. I know you want to draw me into an exchange where I personalize my arguments by applying them directly to you. It's my reluctance to do that which underlies my statement that you need to decide for yourself whether the shoe fits or not. One of the fundamental disagreements I have with the author of the OP is that she maintains that my use of the words "delusion" and "mental illness" are pejorative and meant to be hurtful. They've never been meant that way, only taken as such. Again, one of my goals in life is to be less of a jerk.

I bear no ill will toward people who suffer from persistent delusions, and prefer to keep the discussion at an academic level rather than get into personal name calling.