Religion is a mental illness

[trog.livejournal.com]

Photo: Orthodox Jewish Man Covers Himself In Plastic Bag On Plane

Why is he doing this? Don't read further. I'm telling you, you do not want to know...



We don't often see the classic Twin Peaks phrase "wrapped in plastic" taken so literally—but a Redditor posted the above photo of an Orthodox Jewish man who did just that on a recent flight. Poster "FinalSay" initially assumed the man was covering up because he was in front of women, but others pointed out that it is much more likely that the man is a "Kohen", who are holy priests (or descended from them).

Kohens are prohibited from flying over cemeteries ("A kohen initially was not supposed to approach any dead body, and if he did so he became ritually impure"), which as you can imagine, could be a major problem for travel. According to Haaretz, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, the leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community in Israel, "found a solution to this issue, ruling that wrapping oneself in thick plastic bags while the plane crossed over the cemetery is permissible."



Source: http://gothamist.com/2013/04/11/photo_orthodox_jewish_man_covers_hi.php

Comments

[american-geist.livejournal.com]

It's a pretty silly thing to do, but I wonder what your solution is. Should his fellow passengers have berated him? Kept quiet, as they presumably did? Should airlines outlaw the practice? Or should we just mock him on the internet?

I guess what I'm asking is how do you propose discouraging such activity in a free society, if at all?

I don't disagree with your sentiment, I don't care for religion at all, especially with regards to public discourse. Still, your use of the quasi-medical "mental illness" language trouble me, besides potentially being construed as vaguely eugenical, I think it gives religion itself way to much credit for human idiocy.

[trog.livejournal.com]

My solution is to marginalize, mock, and shame such behavior. These people are insane and their judgment is clearly very very poor. If a person believes the world is 6000 years old, for instance, who knows what other crazy shit the person believes -- maybe he believes that his car will levitate over anyone he is driving toward so he doesn't need to swerve.

[american-geist.livejournal.com]

But do you marginalize, mock, and shame in public or private, or both? Do you propose going up to individuals like this man, and telling them off?

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Leviticus started it!!!!

[hurleyman.livejournal.com]

We already do it to the WBC and most extreme Southern Baptists. Give it a few decades, society will catch up.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry - I must have missed the fact that you are a qualified psychiatrist. If you are, then perhaps you can tell me how you came to the diagnosis of insanity.

If you aren't, then I would posit that anyone who spends so much time worried about religious practices that 1) don't involve him, 2) don't present any hazard to him or oppress anyone else and 3) he is unlikely to ever encounter in his life, could be someone with serious mental problems. Hey, my diagnostic skills are at least as good as yours, Dr. Trog. Or maybe I should start referring to you as insane Dr. Trog because a lot of what you say and post makes no sense to me.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

I mostly agree with you here but consider this: I've often thought that people who end up practicing strict/weird religious rituals are probably some level of Obsessive-compulsive to begin with and as long as they aren't doing things like blowing themselves up, maybe it's not that big an issue.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I agree that religious rituals can have an obsessive component to them, but I'm pretty sure that most of the time they don't rise to the level of a psychiatric disorder. And even if they do, this isn't any more dangerous to others than me washing my hands a dozen times a day (and I do and not for religious reasons!).

It's the jump from 'well this is unusual' to 'OMG this insane person might be driving next to me, run for your life' that I object to.

[macychick.livejournal.com]

Exactly. There is a huge difference between "unusual" and "mentally ill."

OCD is a genuine medical condition. Either you have it or you don't; and religion has nothing to do with it. If you were previously atheist, and then you decided you believed in God and joined a church or synagogue, you wouldn't suddenly have OCD if you didn't before.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

I think it's fair to say that when you are covering yourself with a full-body plastic bag aboard an airplane, there's a level of obsessive behavior going on. Since no one was being harmed, I don't think it's activity that deserves intervention and nor was I claiming such persons are disordered. Just a bit extreme.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

No disagreement here. I was referencing Trog's assertion that 'religion is a mental illness.'

[macychick.livejournal.com]

Are you saying that ALL people who believe in a deity of any kind are mentally ill?

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Replace "God" with "Mr. Magoo" and you're going to find yourself medicated and given that we have as much proof for god as Mr Magoo, then I can see where the argument comes from.

Having said that, I don't think we should shame, mock or marginalise the mentally ill, that's something we should reserve for people who don't believe they have a mental illness ;) /troll

[macychick.livejournal.com]

Replace "God" with "Mr. Magoo" and you're going to find yourself medicated.

Not true.
I have a degree in psychology, and I know for a fact that we don't classify people as mentally ill if their symptoms do not impair their ability to function.

[new-wave-witch.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty stupid stretch of logic.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

These people are insane. . . .

I disagree. They are following biblical interpretations that, I admit, are waaay out there; but they themselves did not think this shit up. They are merely following it.

The insane think weird shit up themselves. The devout merely follow the precedent. As to your last sentiment, though:

. . . and their judgment is clearly very very poor.

Perhaps. Wrapping oneself in plastic, however, is the least harmful of it. Look up restrictions on yichud if you want poor judgment clouding actions. Some scholars maintain that if you are trapped in an elevator with an attractive woman, you should consider suicide rather than commit the sin of violating yichud.

Plastic? Meh.