Quote Originally Posted by Sigurd View Post
Adrian,

You do make a witty point in the comparison between religious experience and schizophrenia.
But do you really believe that every claimed religious experience is schizophrenic or a result of a mental disorder? That every religious person on this planet suffers from schizophrenia?
The cheap way out would be to say ´yes, all believers are mad´.

However, I think the similarity points to something else. In a way, the fact that schizophrenia is so widespread makes it normal. That changes the whole equation. A folie à deux is manageable, a folie à millions becomes a fact of life.

I tend to think that such widespread attitudes have or have had evolutionary or cognitive advantages that should not be dismissed out of hand. Religion may have served us well at certain stages and may still serve us well in certain situations, even if the supreme being around which it revolves is a figment of the imagination.