What is it about?
The paper takes the title of Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" as a starting point to explore to describe current psychiatric approaches to the Science versus Religion debate. It evaluates the evidence that supports whether or not religious faith represents a reality distortion and challenges the premises that underpins positions that are all too often unnecessarily polarised.
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Why is it important?
The perception that religious faith represents a flight from material reality analagous to many psychiatric disorders has contributed to alienation and social division. The paper examines whhether there is any basis for this perception and suggests ways of resolving the damaging religious/secular divide.
Perspectives
The author's main focus has been to develop the mental health services received by a mixed rural/urban population and to help alienated individuals feel that their contribution is valued by the wider community. His special interest has been in the factors that lead to the development of therapeutic environments and cultures.
Dr Wilson Firth
Leicestershire Partnership Trust
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ‘The D word’: psychiatric approaches to the Dawkins debate, Critical Quarterly, December 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/criq.12234.
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