Are you a religious person? Well, if you answer in the affirmative, a neuroscientist says you are mentally unstable!

A professor at Stanford University, Robert Sapolsky, has said that religion is a mental illness, and that the behaviours exhibited by ‘prophets’ in religious texts are diagnosable acts.

The self-described atheist, who is also a neuroendocrinologist, argues that religion is comparable to a shared schizophrenia.Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves.

Sapolsky said he was raised in an Orthodox (Jewish) household.

“I was raised devoutly religious up until around age 13 or so. In my adolescent years, one of the defining actions in my life was breaking away from all religious belief whatsoever,” he boasts.

According to him, the parables and teachings of prophets — such as the stories of the construction of the world in seven days, virgin births and burning bushes — are stories constructed by “extremely formative, extremely schizotypals throughout history.”

Online portal, Mayo Clinic, describes people with ‘schizotypal personality disorder’ as those who are odd or eccentric and usually have few, if any, close relationships. “Schizotypals generally don’t understand how relationships form or the impact of their behaviour on others,” Mayo Clinic asserts.

Prof. Sapolsky argues that “religious rituals are a form of exhibiting obsessive-compulsive disorders;” and that “religious people are on a spectrum of mental illness.”

http://punchng.com/religious-people-have-mental-illness-neuroscientist-warns/

Okk

So you were raised by "mentally ill people"?
Good.
First examine your own self.

felixomor:
So you were raised by "mentally ill people"?
Good.
First examine your own self.

The thing taya me my brother. A man that was raised by mad men and women

If it were a religious post here all these wannabe nairaland atheists would flood here asking for evidence. Op give us evidence that this your doll has performed an experiment to establish the fact that religious people has brain disorder.

rhektor:
If it were a religious post here all these wannabe nairaland atheists would flood here asking for evidence. Op give us evidence that this your doll has performed an experiment to establish the fact that religious people has brain disorder.

i'm a muslim...
But i think the man is not sane

obafemee80:

i'm a muslim...
But i think the man is not sane

Issoraite, let Seun hopefullandlord catfishBilly et all respond then
Lest I forget happy birthday oga Seun

Some Christians here, just confirmed the observation of the author of the article.

Mental illness is caused by combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors.

Psychological and environmental factors, are strongly responsible for the type of delusion and schizophrenia, that's peculiar to the religious folks.

The fact that most of the religious folks, can still function normally within the society, doesn't make their infirmity unreal.

* it's delusional, to claim that something exist (materially), and not provide physical evidence.

* it's schizophrenic, to claim hearing, seeing and speaking to unseen beings.

What "mental illness" are you talking about in particular?

Fantastic article!!! Great post!!! Eating grass and "chewing torn pant" can only be described as a mental illness!!!