Against Christian Fundamentalist...Addiction.
The real issue with these people is not their specific faiths. It's their addiction to thinking they are right. It's an addiction to believing they have a corner on the market of truth. In other words, it's an addiction to a "made-truth," that is, to a belief that the truths they've created in their minds are indeed absolute truths and that everyone else must be made to believe in the same truths lest they perish.
The real issue with these people is not their specific faiths. It's their addiction to thinking they are right. It's an addiction to believing they have a corner on the market of truth. In other words, it's an addiction to a "made-truth," that is, to a belief that the truths they've created in their minds are indeed absolute truths and that everyone else must be made to believe in the same truths lest they perish.
...They are addicts. And like other addicts, they do not respond to logic or sound arguments. Like other addicts, in order to feel good, they must believe that their made-truth is the only reality, and they must, therefore, defend that truth against any outside influence. Like other addicts, anyone who threatens to keep them from believing their made-truths is seen as a threat to their own good feelings - or in other words, to be opposed to their brand of made-truth is to be a threat to their personal value as humans, and thus they will attack with ferocity anyone who even questions their veracity. If you don't believe as they do, you are considered "lost." If you oppose their political positions, you are considered "blinded by the Devil." And if you have the gall to argue against their made-truths, you will be called nothing short of "demon possessed" or a "tool of Satan."
But, as with any other addict, you should not take their attacks personally. These people are not to be feared; they are to be rebuffed. They are not to be taken seriously; they are to be pitied. They are not to be counter-attacked with anger; they are to be helped out of their addiction by replacing their need for made-truth with the healing touch of human love and kindness.
Yes. It's true. Fundamentalists can escape their addiction to made-truth the same way an alcoholic can escape the appeal of a stiff drink. Just as there is Alcoholics Anonymous, there is also Fundamentalists Anonymous. But two things must happen in order to break a Fundamentalist's addiction.
http://www.elroy.net/ehr/fighttheright.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I put some links here that point to useful info.
(Christian addiction also is a form of narcissism & inverted status seeking and putting others down and making them inferior triggers a reward centers in the brain)
Research in the area of religious addiction is deficient, however there were a few older related studies found in the literature. There is some evidence to indicate that "religious people in general tend to exhibit dependency on some external source of gratification".(rewards,status,approval of narcissism,competition(winning souls).
http://www.ecauldron.net/articles/archives/2006/05/entry_51.php http://alfin2100.blogspot.com/2010/02/dopamine-drives-risk-taking-and-status.htmlhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-psychology-of-socialhttp://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/fromm.htmlhttp://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/03/psychopaths-keep-their-eyes-on-t.html?ref=hphttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sociopath.htmhttp://drugrehab.promo.web.id/why-do-people-move-from-extreme-drug-abuse-to-fanatical-religion-im-looking-for-a-psychological-patternhttp://www.orange-papers.org/orange-funny_spirituality.htmlhttp://www.vainencounters.com/forum/2009/06/24/dont-ignore-emotional-pain-living-narcissisthttp://www.healthyplace.com/personality-disorders/malignant-self-love/the-narcissist-and-the-opposite-sex/menu-id-1469/http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11507&page=1http://republicandirtytricks.com/psycho-killer-gets-real-man-status-in-ayn-rands-narcissistic-worldview/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So many of the social justice,financial,criminal,poverty,bigotry/racism,etc.etc.issues that we face as people trying to get by,as a society we also face in this country.Issues like bigots,zealots,bullies,injustice,inequality,wall street,jobs,child abuse,domestic violence,guns,abortion rights, All of it eventually boils down to the problem behaviors of narcissism,authoritarians and psychopathy and addiction and the addicted to power,status,control etc.types who abuse& twist the original purpose of the biology of our own brains and our social needs and biological needs..to get what they want,no matter the damage and pain it causes others. These personalities are both toxic and addicted.they are the biggest sources of most of the suffering,crime and mental illnesses inflicted upon the non-psychopaths, the survivors of abuse,& upon minorities, women and kids in general.They are not to be trusted because they'll do and believe anything to get high.
If you think about most every issue and injustice we face boils down to the actions of toxic people and their unchecked,unidentified pathology and addictions. Their beliefs,habits and secret lives are harming everyone else around themselves.Never mind concerning people yet again with ekeing out a narcissistic addicts motives for being that way,we as a society have spent centuries trying to figure that out desperate to help what this toxic asshole 'suffers'from. For this post forget the perpetrators and the just world belief system. Try to be honest when looking at the terrible costs of misplaced tolerance and pity for the addict and toxic personalities..has done.
And really do consider all the corruption,crime, victims and immense amounts of suffering these addicted narcissists inflict upon everything and everyone else..We must try to educate each other(non-sociopaths/non-addicted& victims of such people) about pathological personality traits,how to protect oneself and each other from further relational harm.The next question is what do we do about all the toxic people out there? Reality is, therapy does not help psychopaths,prison does not help either,appeasing & ignoring this problem just gets us hurt..A relationship with toxic people using our caring and pity for them gets us traumatized more and our lives destroyed..what do we do than?
This problem is the most important issue because these bad personalities affects the well being and very survival of people who are not addicted assholes. Pretending that these pathological toxic people are like non-pathological people it makes us sick and it compromises our integrity.
Does not matter if it is the abuse of an individual person, the abuse of our systems,our very thinking and thoughts,language or values,our culture and humanity in general.. the pathological &/or addicted personalities among us has damaged so much..They have to be separated,stopped ,discerned,contained or something before we can be safe in our own person-hood ,our identity and regain our voices to say what must be said and do what must be done so we can begin to recover & heal as individuals making up the society of this nation from the damage already done..
Our very survival depends on resolving this issue.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pathological-relationships/201008/60-million-people-in-the-us-negatively-affected-someone-elseshttp://www.sott.net/articles/show/214387-60-Million-People-in-the-U-S-Negatively-Affected-By-Someone-Else-s-Pathologyhttp://saferelationshipsmagazine.com/women-who-love-psychopaths-book-center#high_3