Is Faith Delusion?

Publisher Description

How, in a scientifically and technologically advanced age, can people still believe in God? Andrew Sims examines the connection and the division between Christian faith and psychiatry and shows that, shockingly, religious belief is good for mental and physical health.Is faith delusion? Is religion bad for your health? How, in a scientifically and technologically advanced age, can people still believe in God/spirit/'other'? Clearly not all believers are primitive and ill-educated; an alternative explanation is that they must be mad, or at least severely neurotic (as suggested by Freud).This book examines and explains the connection and the division between Christian faith and psychiatry. It asks whether science challenges Christians involved with psychiatry, as patients or professionals, and whether the spiritual needs of patients are recognised. The author examines the scope and use of the neurosciences and considers cause and effect, natural selection and determinism. He explores the overlap (and the difference) between psychiatric symptoms and religious belief, the possible association between demon possession and mental illness, and the idea that some people are intrinsically religious and some are not. The variations of personality are examined, with their implications for belief. Although the book is technically proficient, it is aimed at the general reader and is illustrated with stories, brief case histories and anecdotes.