Thousands of years ago there were some influential figures who claimed to be receiving or channelling messages from deities. These days, if you hear voices, you receive a prescription for anti-psychosis medication and a clinical management plan with a team of specialists.
I was reading through a psychology proposal which featured a measurement instrument, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25 www.cd-risc.com , at work recently and noted the following item:
3. When there are no clear solutions to my problems, sometimes fate or God can help
People are asked to respond on a 5 point Scale from 0- not at all true to 4- true nearly all the time.
On face value you might think- sure, these seem like reasonable statements, and that any extreme answer could indicate a problem, e.g. "God/fate will always take care of things".
How many times have we heard about people trusting their gut, too?
How many times have we heard about people trusting their gut, too?
Now consider the inverse- the response of "I believe it is never true that God/ Fate will help with my problem". Hmm, what a negative response, you might think on face value. As an atheist, however, I find it amusing that people cannot cope with the fact I do not believe there is a God or in concepts like fate, and feel the need to suggest there is a problem with my sanity for it.
I accept that many people are religious and have these beliefs, but I do not personally ascribe to them. To have included such an item in a tool designed to measure people's mental state of being potentially rejects the tenet that any atheist could ever be completely sane.
It takes an incredible arrogance to assume that your beliefs or a cultural norm are RIGHT and any other beliefs are WRONG or suggestive of poor mental health. Yet it is the default position adopted by so many.
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