Greetings in the Resurrected Christ!
I wonder if I could ask you to contribute to the "Could the very high rate of mental illness in Europe be related to religion decline?"? That is, if you would be willing to support me in my argument that decline in religious belief is in fact not the cause of a higher incidence of mental illness.
I saw the topic earlier but didn't reply, I pulled up an excellent response from the original post's link, I'll repost it here, as well :
Mental illnesses aren't just bouts of the blues, or stomach flutters before an exam. They're not worrying about whether your boss liked your proposal or a bit of stage fright. Mental illness is not a personality trait, a flaw, or a quirk. They consume your every waking moment. Every breath, every step, every thought is affected. It's no joking matter. This isn't about people who may be a little off beat or a little different or deviate from "the norm." This is about people who can't get to work on time because they retrace their route seven times to make sure they didn't hit someone by accident and not notice/hear it. This is about people who are so ill they cannot get out of bed to play with their children no matter how badly they want to. It's about people who live every moment of their lives trapped in a feeling of deepest despair or utmost terror. These are not people who are weak, ungrateful, unproductive or any less important than any of you snobbish commenters. Mental illnesses are also not always lifetime sentences--some develop mid life, some develop early and go away. By some estimates, as many as 1 in 2 Americans will, at some point, experience symptoms severe enough to be classified as a mental disorder or illness. Just like with any disease, the fact that it may come or go is not an indicator of severity. Even cancer goes into remission, but it's always there.
So for those of us who struggle with these diseases, please don't be so crude. We're exactly like you. We're your coworkers who joke with you in the break room, we're the parents of your kid's friends who drink coffee with you, and we're your relatives--except that we're terrified to talk about this to anyone BECAUSE of people like you. We take our medicine, we go to work, we come home to our families. We're diabetics of the brain.
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Perhaps, the problem in your appealing to me for support against an illness/religion ratio is due to my tenet that there is only one religion, as there is only one faith, and one God. (and consequently only one illness)
Perfect love casts out fear, yet allows us to have at least a little of good fear first. I see the ratio as hinging upon this balance of good fear and all other fear.
The promises made by Christ are no less fulfilling.
