"The line between psychosis and intense religiosity is a bit of a difficult one to draw"
7/16/2003 7:49:31 PM
The Age, an Australian paper, reports on a conference in Sydney focused on whether or not specific religious beliefs are "delusions":
Studying the mechanisms of religious belief could lead to a better understanding of what goes on in the minds of people with psychiatric delusions.
An international conference in Sydney this week will hear that some religious beliefs - including that a virgin gave birth to the son of God - qualify as delusions.
Macquarie University PhD student Ryan McKay, who has been studying under one of Australia's leading authorities on delusions, Max Coltheart, said the idea that religion was a delusion dated back to Sigmund Freud about 100 years ago.
Wow, a hundred years. Impressive. Well, Dr. Sickmind, er, Sigmund, may not have believed in God while on earth, but I bet he's analyzing a different tune now.
Oops, I'm now exposing my delusion of triumphalism...
