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muriel_volestrangler

(101,082 posts)
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 07:53 PM Jun 2014

Nigerian man detained on psychiatric ward for "atheism"

A Nigerian man has been detained and medicated for over a week on a psychiatric ward in Kano state, Nigeria, on the grounds that he is an atheist, his lawyer confirmed today.

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.
...
After one doctor dismissed claims of psychiatric problems, Mubarak’s 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”.
...
“In addition we are seriously concerned about Mubarak’s 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 Mubarak’s 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/
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theHandpuppet

(19,964 posts)
1. Ah yes, lovely Nigeria
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 10:03 PM
Jun 2014

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)
4. What about people that think that theism is a mental illness,
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 11:06 PM
Jun 2014

some of whom post right here on this liberal/progressive website.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
3. Yep, that's just as objectionable as calling religious believers delusional.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 11:04 PM
Jun 2014

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)
5. No, being rude to someone on a message-board is NOT as bad as locking them up in a psychiatric ward
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 04:30 AM
Jun 2014

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)
7. I agree. Being rude to someone on a message board is not a bad as locking them up, and
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 07:03 AM
Jun 2014

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)
9. What the fuck? You lie in your first sentence, you JUST said it was just as objectionable...
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 09:15 PM
Jun 2014

in the post above, and NOW you contradict yourself? So which is it?

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
10. Why are you so hostile?
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 09:37 PM
Jun 2014

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)
11. Because I have yet to see a truly honest post from you, at all.
Thu Jun 26, 2014, 06:51 PM
Jun 2014

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)
12. Well, I guess that is your problem then, isn't it.
Thu Jun 26, 2014, 07:02 PM
Jun 2014

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.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,082 posts)
6. There's a lot of difference between one private individual calling another 'delusional'
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 04:36 AM
Jun 2014

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)
8. See response above.
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 07:04 AM
Jun 2014

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.

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