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the_ignored
SFN Addict
2562 Posts |
 Posted - 04/28/2005 : 22:36:39
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quote:
An Israeli study found a whopping 29% of Orthodox Jewish men developed dementia, compared to only 10% of nonreligious Israeli men. Explanation for this "peculiar result"? Possibly diet, genetics, narrow range of intellectual activity--including intense memorization of religious texts, and, as offered by a reporter: "Maybe God has captured their minds."
Their Source: New York Daily News, Aug. 4, 2004
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>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.
What brought that on? this. Original posting here.
Another example of this guy's lunacy here. |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
 Posted - 04/29/2005 : 00:32:33 [Permalink]
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Do they suffer damage because of their religion or do the religion attract the already damaged?
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"Any religion that makes a form of torture into an icon that they worship seems to me a pretty sick sort of religion quite honestly"
-- Terry Jones |
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trishran
Skeptic Friend
USA
196 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2005 : 13:02:13 [Permalink]
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I read an interesting book, "Plague Time" by Paul Ewald, in which he claims that a number of diseases that we now consider to be "multifactoral" in cause, or whose causes are unknown, may turn out to be smoldering, chronic infections. He includes mental illnesses in this theory, in that the brain can suffer chronic infections just like any other organ.
Anyway, when diseases seem to run in families, we as a society seem to believe that "it must be genetic." But infections pass from prople to other people they have social contact with. A group that even somewhat isolates themselves socially, such as Orthodox Jews, might have higher chances of catching an infection that is being passed around their community, while the disease's incidence outside the community might be much lower.
Also, Ewald makes the point that the reason we haven't found a single physical cause for some physical and "mental" diseases is that there may be more than one cause resulting in similar effects: heart diesase can be caused by a birth defect, pneumonia chlamidia [not the STD, a related microorganism] and other infections. Schizophrenia, another example Ewald mentions, might be caused in some people by the mother having the flu during pregnancy, in another by toxoplasmosis, in another by mom having had rubella while pregnant.
One other thought [not inspired by reading Ewald] is that perhaps the rigid lifestyle of fundamentalist religion might be attractive to people suffering a brain disease because, if you don't feel like you can control your thoughts, a rigid set of instructions on how to live everyday life might be comforting. |
trish |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2005 : 03:05:00 [Permalink]
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| Uh folks, I think the issue is inbreeding, not religion. There is a strict rule of marrying within the group. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2005 : 03:12:14 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by trishran
I read an interesting book, "Plague Time" by Paul Ewald, in which he claims that a number of diseases that we now consider to be "multifactoral" in cause, or whose causes are unknown, may turn out to be smoldering, chronic infections. He includes mental illnesses in this theory, in that the brain can suffer chronic infections just like any other organ.
Anyway, when diseases seem to run in families, we as a society seem to believe that "it must be genetic." But infections pass from prople to other people they have social contact with. A group that even somewhat isolates themselves socially, such as Orthodox Jews, might have higher chances of catching an infection that is being passed around their community, while the disease's incidence outside the community might be much lower.
Also, Ewald makes the point that the reason we haven't found a single physical cause for some physical and "mental" diseases is that there may be more than one cause resulting in similar effects: heart diesase can be caused by a birth defect, pneumonia chlamidia [not the STD, a related microorganism] and other infections. Schizophrenia, another example Ewald mentions, might be caused in some people by the mother having the flu during pregnancy, in another by toxoplasmosis, in another by mom having had rubella while pregnant.
One other thought [not inspired by reading Ewald] is that perhaps the rigid lifestyle of fundamentalist religion might be attractive to people suffering a brain disease because, if you don't feel like you can control your thoughts, a rigid set of instructions on how to live everyday life might be comforting.
I recommend a grain of salt with any claims that amount to hypotheses unless the follow up research is done to test said hypotheses. There are an awful lot of books written on some guy's hypothesis. An argument can be made but the follow up testing is usually missing.
Ulcers turned out to be infection and it took a while to convince doctors after the discovery. That has led to a whole batch of infectious causes being sought for a whole lot of diseases and I'm sure there are many more to be discovered. But at the same time, genetic diseases are not determined by mere speculation about certain disease patterns. The science is a bit more advanced than that. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2005 : 03:24:28 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
Uh folks, I think the issue is inbreeding, not religion. There is a strict rule of marrying within the group.
I read somewhere that this was/is a large problem in the Amish and Mennonite sects. They are tightly self-contained and very susceptable to many illness', and even such things as dwarfism is somewhat more common than in the general population.
Of course, the Shakers didn't have to worry about such things...
Like B'gal, I don't think that religion necessarly has to be the prime factor. It will show up in any isolated society, although religious societies are far more likely to fit this description.
Edit: On the mental health note, various religions seem to attract or perhaps even create the crazies. How many church members in good standing have commited the murder of family? Seems that you read about a few every month, or so. They and many serial killers have obeyed the "Voice of God" telling them to rid the world of "Evil."
And who does that remind you of?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 05/07/2005 03:34:06 |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2005 : 16:07:24 [Permalink]
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| Of course inbreeding can on occasion have the opposite effect. About 60% of Hasidic Jews carry the CCR5 deletion, a genetic mutation that protects against HIV mutation. Interbreeding apparently. (Source: work at UW by Mary Claire King.) |
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trishran
Skeptic Friend
USA
196 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2005 : 21:27:22 [Permalink]
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| Inbreding may occasionally offer protection, but I'd rather be in the hands of competent modern medical doctors. |
trish |
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