Bright Life

Actually, I personally have never heard of/met anyone like this. I've met many folks, however, that when presented with extraordinary claims, demand extraordinary proof.

Personally, I don't care if someone wants to believe that some all-knowing, all-seeing spirit is floating around them, demanding that they cut off the tips of their penises. But, when they automatically want to cut off the tip of my kids penis, hey, that's when we gotta talk. And by the way, don't you think that you should let your kid decide if he wants to mutilate his genitals when he's old enough to make the decision?

See the difference?

It's a "believe what you want, as long as it doesn't effect anyone else" type of thing.

Marduk

"Actually, I personally have never heard of/met anyone like this. I've met many folks, however, that when presented with extraordinary claims, demand extraordinary proof."

just an impression from some posts...or maybe a flashback

-RRH-

I'm sure that some are.

But I've found there is no all-encompasing reason as to why one person believes in God and another does not. So, attempts to provide a one single explanation will fall short.

justsumner

If so, please don't cure me

Dean Anderson

Sorry, I just thought this was a particularly funny thing to quote-mine...

jdlongmire

:rolling: :rolling: :notworthy

s'what I get for not taking the time to "box" what I was responding to!

what I meant to emphasize... :Cheeky:

...just like atheism...

(sorta dilutes the pithiness of the idea now, though, don't it? )

socratoad

Are Atheists mentally ill

How did you gain access to my medical records?

epepke

Nice avocado, Devil. I hope it's a Florida avocado. I like them better than the Haas avocados. Juicier and less greasy.

But anyway, of the communities that I frequent, and from a purely experiential perspective, the SCA community seems to have the highest incidence of mental disorders, with the general SF fandom community (there's some overlap) a close second. The fundamentalist/Baptist/Pentecostal communities seem to be next highest on the list. Poor or middle class southerners are the next highest, but it's a wash. The Atheist communities are next; I've met a fair number of people with thought and personality disorders in them. Various computing communities such as ACM SIGGRAPH seem to be lower, but with a few people.

I think that any specialized community is going to have more nuts, simply because mental disorders are more-or-less defined as deviations from the norm. The question is whether atheists are more or less nuttier than you would expect based on the accidentals of being separated from the norm. It's a judgement call, but I think less rather than more.

DaninGraniteCity

What are SCA and SF?

epepke

SCA=Society for Creative Anachronism. A bunch of people who make armor out of old trash cans and hit each other with sticks that have duck tape on them.

SF=Science Fiction