Religion
Related: About this forumNigerian man detained on psychiatric ward for "atheism"
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is deeply concerned about the case, for the welfare of the detained man, and the human rights violation that his detention represents.
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After one doctor dismissed claims of psychiatric problems, Mubaraks family alleged that he also made delusional claims that he was a governor, Mubarak said. They also told other trivial lies they could come up with, including insinuations that his writing and activism on the Almajiri was a sign of madness, simply because it is too big for me to initiate change.
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In addition we are seriously concerned about Mubaraks deteriorating condition. At his request, the lawyer has tried to take him some decent food, because Mubarak is weak and his hands were shaking after a week under medication. Also Mubaraks messages, when he was still able to get messages out, have gone from almost bemused at his situation saying how funny it was that his family equated atheism with mental illness to quite desperate in recent days as the prospect of a quick release has diminished.
http://iheu.org/nigerian-man-detained-on-psychiatric-ward-for-atheism/
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Where gays get dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night to be beaten and Boko Haram is free to kidnap schoolgirls -- and they think atheism is a mental illness.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)some of whom post right here on this liberal/progressive website.
rug
(82,333 posts)cbayer
(146,218 posts)This knife can cut both ways and good liberals/progressives should stand together to protest people being labelled as psychiatrically ill based solely on believing or not believing in a god.
Right?
LeftishBrit
(41,175 posts)I have said before that I think it wrong to call believers as such 'delusional' as I think that it trivializes real mental illness. But I doubt that there is a single poster on DU who really thinks that religious believers should be confined to psychiatric wards and forcibly medicated. The latter did sometimes happen in the Soviet Union; but I doubt that any DU-er is a fan of the political/psychiatric system of the Soviet Union. Opposing the state imposition of religion is not the same as supporting the state imposition of atheism.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)i never said that it was.
But there is a danger is labeling being as being psychiatrically ill for their beliefs or lack of beliefs.
I have actually had conversations with people here that do indeed think religious people should be locked up, medicated and suffer other consequences that those with real psychiatric illness suffer. Really.
When there are t-shirts that say things like "Religion - together we can find the cure", that's a slippery slope. Whether meant metaphorically or not, the suggestion that religious people are ill, an idea which is endorsed by more than a few people on DU, is highly objectionable.
This is not a game where one side wins and one loses. It's wrong to label people as being psychiatrically ill because of their religious beliefs or lack of beliefs.
Full stop.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)in the post above, and NOW you contradict yourself? So which is it?
cbayer
(146,218 posts)If you do not understand what I am saying, why not just ask for clarification instead of calling me a liar and yelling profanities at me?
What is your deal?
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)You are the master of doublespeak.You and your SO seem to be the dream team for anti-atheist bigotry while trying to maintain a facade of tolerance.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)You are so completely off the mark and I am going to put you on ignore now.
I would like to say it's been nice knowing you, but it really hasn't been.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,082 posts)and doctors locking someone up on grounds of illness. The Washington Post prints op-eds in which John Kerry is called 'delusional'. Republicans tell each other not to be delusional. 'Delusion' and 'delusional' have meanings outside psychiatry. The problem in this case is that a doctor has claimed this is a psychiatric problem.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)I fully understand that there is a colloquial use of the term delusion, but the fact is that way too many people posting on this site have made it clear that they are not using the term colloquially and spout off that all religious believers are, in fact, suffering from psychiatric illness.