Study: Belief in an angry God associated with variety of mental illnesses

[DonViejo]

By Stephen C. Webster
Wednesday, April 17, 2013 10:19 EDT

People who believe in an angry, punishing God are much more likely to suffer from a variety of mental illnesses, a scientific study published in the April edition of Journal of Religion & Health finds.

The study, conducted by Marymount Manhattan College Assistant Psychology Professor Nava Silton, used data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey of US Adults to examine the links between beliefs and anxiety disorders like social dysfunction, paranoia, obsession and compulsion.

To do this, Silton viewed the data through the lens of what’s called Evolutionary Threat Assessment System Theory, which posits that parts of the brain specifically evolved to detect threats, and suggests that many anxiety disorders may be a result of dysfunction in the brain’s perception of those threats.

In keeping with prior studies on this very subject, she queried the data on three types of believers: those who see God as angry, those who see God as neutral and those who see God as loving. Controlling specifically to weed out the non-believers, Silton found that a belief in a forgiving, loving God is associated with positive psychological traits, “almost protecting against psychopathology,” she told Raw Story.

But for those who think God is angry and preparing punishments for sinners, “that belief seems to be very much related to these negative symptoms,” Silton said.

“If you look at the previous research, they’ve connected it to depression and all sorts of other psychiatric disorders,” she said. “We were looking at social phobia, obsession, compulsion, paranoia and a lot of features of anxiety disorders.”

One thing Silton stressed is that her study should not be construed to have found a cause for such symptoms. “We are not looking at casual findings here,” she said. “We are looking at correlational findings. That means we’re not saying belief caused psychiatric symptoms, but we see relationships between beliefs and these psychiatric symptoms.”

Silton said that while her study was mostly quantitative in nature, she’s looking forward to “asking more qualitative questions” in future work, specifically “to look into what else belief systems might be related to.”

“We’d like to look more specifically at depression and eating disorders,” she said. “Do different beliefs in God relate to eating disorder symptoms? So, [we want to be] looking beyond just anxiety disorders.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/17/study-belief-in-an-angry-god-associated-with-variety-of-mental-illnesses/

Entire article posted with permission

[rug]

1. I wonder if that holds true as well for those whose antipathy toward a god is beased on that notion.

[CJCRANE]

2. Do you know any instances of that? How does that (lack of) belief manifest?

I know someone who is obsessed with (and believes in) hell and the idea of God punishing sinners and unbelievers.

I see it as projection of his own personality and overcompensation for his own weaknesses (i.e. a need for revenge against people who he thinks have got the better of him). I suspect that he has a (or several) personality disorder(s).

[rug]

4. Not personally. Only what I read.

The passion and vitriol directed against what is considered a nonexistent god is striking. The more that god is described as angry, vengeful genocidal, etc., the stronger the passion and vitriol. Very odd.

[CJCRANE]

5. It depends how the anger manifests.

If the anger is directed at the idea only, then there's no harm in that.

If the anger is directed at the people who believe that idea, then it's still probably harmless, if no action is taken.
(For instance, I believe it's wrong for someone to believe in hell but that conviction is not strong enough for me to physically do anything about it).

However, the people who believe in a vengeful god sometimes believe that that god is directing them or that they need to do that god's will. That's where the danger comes in.

[rug]

7. It invariably lead to anger against individuals and groups.

It's not rational to be angry at an idea.

[cleanhippie]

12. But it is rational to be angry at those who would force their idea of religious belief onto all.

and even at those that enable them indirectly.

[rug]

13. It would be much more rational to figure out your target.

[cleanhippie]

10. As you well know but willfully ignore, the passion and vitriol is not directed at a nonexistent god.

Its directed at the theocratic majority who insist on forcing their religious beliefs into the public square, especially those that use their religion and god as their reasons for doing so.

But you knew that already.

[rug]

14. Well . . .

what you once again choose to ignore is that there is nothing in principle wrong with religious beliefs in the public square; the harm is religious beliefs used inside the halls of government.

What you once again fail to recognize is that the United States is not a theocracy.

What you once again fail to recognize is that it is neither the beliefs nor the people that hold those beliefs that is the problem, it is the use of the state by religion, or the use of religion by the state, that is the problem.

What you have finally admitted, though, is that you are not in fact attacking those beliefs but instead are attacking the people who hold those beliefs with very little nuance between them and those in power who are misusing the state to advance those beliefs, or vice versa.

The only thing less effective than broad based anger is flat thinking.

I guess you didn't know that already.

[cleanhippie]

15. As usual, you take the most dishonest route and mischaracterize what is actually said.

[LTX]

8. Just speculating of course, but it seems like it would depend on the nature of the antipathy.

I tend to agree that one's notion of god is (almost by necessity) a projection of self. And the categories of antipathy could be multiple -- my-angry-god versus your-angry-god, my-benign-god versus your-angry-god, my disbelief in god versus (an) angry god . . . Depending on the nature of the antipathy, it seems like it could manifest itself in aggression, defensiveness, sympathy, withdrawal, etc. An interesting sideways inquiry into evolutionary threat assessment.

[tularetom]

3. He sees you when you're sleeping he knows when you're awake...

If God is indeed a "supreme being" then he is beyond such weaknesses as anger.

He probably simply does not give a shit what any of his creations do whether they are humans, dogs, flies or amoebas.

So it isn't hard to see that people who believe that God is like a pissed off Santa Claus are having all these problems.

[gcomeau]

6. Noooo... really? {/sarcasm} -eom

[SpartanDem]

9. Not surprising, I've read of people who come out these enviroment

there is constant pressure to perfect.

I have written before about suffering from salvation anxiety and demon anxiety. I was surprised how many others chimed in to say they had shared my experiences. There’s a third kind of anxiety to be discussed, though, and that is rapture anxiety.
Many Premillennialists believe that the rapture is imminent. As in, really imminent. When I was a child I asked my dad when he thought the rapture would take place. His answer? In the next five or ten years. This sort of thinking is not at all uncommon in these circles.
Fear 1: Being “Left Behind”

If you’ve ever read the Left Behind books, you’ll learn that being a Christian isn’t a guarantee of being raptured. Rather, you have to be a real Christian, and not be just faking. But it’s really hard to tell the difference sometimes. In the first Left Behind book, one of the main characters was an evangelical pastor who was left behind. It just so happened that he thought too much of his own importance and didn’t trust Jesus as his savior enough. Take a look at my salvation anxiety post linked above to see how complicated being saved can sometimes be for an evangelical Christian.

As a result, I was very afraid the rapture might occur and I might be left behind. One morning when I was ten or twelve I woke up and couldn’t find anyone in the house. Before I realized that my mom and siblings had simply gone outside to enjoy the beautiful morning, I completely freaked, convinced that the rapture had occurred and I had been left behind. That fear was real and palpable.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2012/02/the-end-times-part-vi-rapture-anxiety.html

[dimbear]

11. Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius.

We have to beware of putting the cart before the horse here.