RELIGION
A recent spoof reported that the American Psychological Association was considering whether, in extreme cases, following the directions of an unseen God could be deemed a mental illness. This engendered some outrage and much discussion.
There is, I think, a consensus that organized religion has done a lot
of good and caused a lot of bad.
As a liberal American, I believe strongly in separation of church and
state. (No government action should be involved and no official should participate as such in the National Prayer Breakfast; no Ten
Commandments in courtrooms. on government lawns, etc.). Also, freedom of religion. Hard to deal with the thought of a country enforcing one religion.
For many individual believers, religion has brought much comfort. For the world, it has inspired great music, art, literature, and poetry. For non-believers, talking or listening to an imaginary being is quite odd but it does not make sense to consider those who do mentally ill, or wackos.
