seems like they are deluded into thinking that the world's problems are caused by christianity
their argument about the mormons is basically this - since wonderful narratives exist in the form of fairy tales all incidents that are beyond current paradigms of understanding are fairy tales (its not clear how one could enable new knowledge to be assimilated under this general principle, since it would also appear wonderful)
-kind of a delusional argument, particularly with the added confidence statement "we all know it is true (that religion is a fairy tale)" which smacks of the same thing a philosophically limp religious fanatic might say ("we all know it is true")
seems like the makers of the film get painted by the same paint brush with their definiton of delusion, especially as the premises for "an actual fact" seems to be determined by the number of times per minute you can repeat the word "delusional" followed by confidence statements such as "we can all agree on this" (its not at all a philosophical presentation - its a persuasive one)
same with their assertions of "normal person" etc etc - they don't clearly establish why a theist exists in a bubble of delusion and they do not (except of course that because a theist has a different view than them they must obviously be delusional, which is itself a delusional concept)
and what is remarkable is that they use the same delusional argument regarding the muslims and christians - their general principle seems to be that if something is beyond the average person's scope as normal it can be labelled delusional - you could do a presentation on why physicists are also delusional in the same fashion ("Now do you believe that there are magical things which are invisible called electrons that make up the physical nature of existence. Physicists exist in a bubble of delusion and if they step outside that bubble they will find that it is only physicists that make these claims of electrons")
if you insist that the nature of reality can be determined by appealling to what the average joe can conceive of as believable, then I guess that leaves you with football stadiums, grunting, and turfing out over 90% of what we have in the way of advancement (and interestingly it is the upper 90% - how many people listen to classical music and how many listen to rap) and all that is left is sleeping, eating, mating and defending and other animal propensities that draw an equal consensus across the board - and its terrifying that the producers suggest that this is the platform of sanity
as for the 4 billion people being at odds with the christians or vice versa, that is not the case - its obvious to many that the many varieties of religion indicate different aspects of the absolute according to time place and circumstance.
as for their valid scientific study on the nature of prayer, I guess if we are willing to swallow their confidence statements we will swallow anything.
In short what is most tragic about the whole presentation, is that it doesn't actually inspire persons to be introspective by appealing to reason - I agree that there should be a means to inspect the claims of theism, but this production borrows from the saem tub of poison it is seeking to eliminate - it operates on the exact same principles that a suave charismatic pseudo religious leader would use to fleece persons of their money - its all persuasive and full of confidence statements
Nice long reply of non-seguirtus bull shit!
You have a defenition of delusion, and it fits to a T on religious beliefs:
Delusion:
Although non-specific concepts of madness have been around for several thousand years, the psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers was the first to define the three main criteria for a belief to be considered delusional in his book General Psychopathology. These criteria are:
certainty (held with absolute conviction)
incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or proof to the contrary)
impossibility or falsity of content (implausible, bizarre or patently untrue)
These criteria still live on in modern psychiatric diagnosis. In the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a delusion is defined as:
A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everybody else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. **Wiki..
belief in the assertions of non-existents entities, supernaturalism, mysticism, are a form of delusion. When you can't present evidence, of the existence of your assertions, i.e. souls, gods, heaven, and hold these beliefs as fact, this nothing more then delusion. You are my friend deluded, to believe that such a thing as a god exists, who is wathcing your every move, who is the judge and jury of your soul? wether you will go to heaven or hell, and such nonsese is delusion.
Surely you jest!
