Friday, October 29, 2010

Nothing more pathetic than a mentally deranged relative


A Panorama of Pastor Mikey's Hell porn. As one can see, he requires serious psychological intervention.

As I scanned the blogs today, I winced at the latest eruption of vile on Pastor Mike's blog. I also felt sorry that a loved one could evince such throes of psychotic illness, and I'm unable to help - though I have tried. But I believe the sort of therapy he needs is so intense that it would demand his institutionalization at an asylum. (Including forced to go "cold turkey" from his KJV biblical crack that feeds his delusions.)

What I refer to is his endless shtick to hurl people, honest, moral and decent people, into his "Hell" phantasmagorias. The individuals so far number in his list (he has cast whole groups there too, including all JWs, Mormons, Hindis and Muslims) are shown in the graphic and span the range of human spiritual and philosophical inquiry, from atheists like Chris Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, to the Dalai Lama - a Buddhist, to our own Dad, a committed Catholic (who begged four weeks before his death for me to try to salvage Mike from the fundamentalist parasites that now want to wreck the country). Of course, assuming Mike is sane and not mentally sick, we can easily affirm he wouldn't be fit to lick the soles of the shoes of any of these folks. So, for that purpose, let us assume he's mentally ill and needs help, not condemnation. (Though we do nevertheless excoriate his actions!)

Amongst the most degenerate and evil concepts ever spawned by the human brain is the Hell Myth. This despicable, malignant psychic embolism has not only severely delimited lives of millions of humans (out of sheer fear) but it has also allowed degenerate “Satanic” religions to control masses of minds even as others are driven into delirium and psychosis.

Ironically, the colorful, artistic renditions of this abode (obviously, since there is no empirical proof at all it exists) didn’t commence until after Dante Alleghieri’s Divine Comedy and ‘Inferno’. Prior to the imaginative Dante, Christian writers only rarely depicted Hell, though writers and artists depicted Purgatory almost ubiquitously.

As the fables of Hell and its denizens metastasized, it became ever more obvious that Christians (like the Zoroastrians and Manicheans et al before them) required these nasties to help instill fear in their minions and sustain mind control. What use is a religion if it can’t hang on to its flock? And the best way to do this is threaten them with the worst torments imaginable if they leave (or to outsiders, if they never embrace their beliefs!)

In his book, ‘The History of the Devil’, Dr. Paul Carus observes that “demoniality, or Devil-worship, is the first page in the evolution of religion

Now, religions and especially their assorted fundie believers, won’t relish being called “Satanists” or “Devil worshippers” but that’s exactly what they are if they uphold belief in Satan and Hell. And though they can insist their (corrupted-KJV) bible scriptures lend credence to their beliefs, in the end those text references are fraudulent later additions, exploited to enhance control via the use of an alleged “authority”. But make no mistake this “authority” is useless, especially the KJV which is descended from a corrupted and mistranslated miasma due to a flawed 12th century text copied by Erasmus.

Why are Hell-believing religions Satanist? As Lauran Paine has noted (‘The Hierarchy of Hell’, Barnes & Noble, 1972, p. 140), the erosion of Church power almost exactly paralleled the demise of the long –enduring “orders and hierarchies” of Hell. These had been put together by clerics and Church authorities from the time of Aquinas- and made use of dozens of Satanic entities including: Asmodeus, Belial, Asiel, Gaap, Raum, Sitri, Focalor and dozens of others – each presiding over an order or level of Hell. The Satanic belief system with its ordered hierarchies was so entrenched by the 14 th century -when the Malleus Maleficarum was written that one was regarded as a heretic or atheist if one didn’t accept it! Hence, the belief in Hell and its denizens amounted to Satanism and alleged theism had mutated to theism-Satanism.

The generic standard belief (ibid.) was that “there was God and there was Satan”, the latter had dominion over the Earth and the former over everything else.

The tragedy is that few rationalist Christians could see the contradiction here. For while they insisted God was “omnipotent” or all-powerful, they allowed that an evil entity (“Satan”) could drive this Being from control of one planet! But obviously, if It could be weakened on one planet or its power curtailed there – even on a little one like Earth- it couldn’t be all-powerful by definition! In addition, if it allowed a “Hell” to be manufactured (and one wonders by whom) then it could no longer be OMNIPRESENT. The very attribute of omnipresence would mean that IF a Hell existed, it could only do so as part of God. If, on the other hand, Hell existed separately – then this marked a place or condition where God wasn’t, and hence God was therefore limited, no longer omnipresent!

The trouble is that none of this rational argument works on a brain that is seized and diseased by core Hell belief. The reason is that the disease affects those regions of the brain (see diagram) based largely in the limbic system and reticular formation and hence least susceptible to logic or rational argument.

To fix ideas, in the summer of 1973 in Barbados, two late teen girls – who I will call “Myra” and “Maura”- were hospitalized in the island’s Jenkins Asylum in Black Rock. Both had been days in a state of catatonic fear – unable to even feed and clothe themselves. As further investigation proceeded, it was revealed that their one commonality was having both attended a hellfire sermon (based on quotes in the KJV) from a Sunday night service at the Berean Bible Church, off High Street in Bridgetown- the capital.

According to the psychotherapist (Dr. Pat Bannister) who worked with both girls, they had been terrified out of their minds by the fear of Hell. They both had become so pathologically frightened of ending up there- despite being good Christian teens- that they'd effectively retreated from life and sealed themselves into a hermetic other world. Worse, their fears made it impossible for them to sleep. Like the poor kids stalked by Freddy Krueger in the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' series, they dreaded losing consciousness and possibly awakening in Hell.

Psychotropic drugs like largatyl only brought them out part of the way, and as it turned out prolonged electro-convulsive therapy – administered at least once a week- had to be used. Myra finally climbed back to reality after almost a year of steady treatments. Maura took nearly a whole extra year to re-acquire some semblance of mental health, and her speech facility was only slowly regained after two years. She had become convinced a demon might enter her soul if she opened her mouth to talk. (She only ate very little, and briefly and even had to be intravenously fed a number of times).

While these were admittedly extreme cases, they highlight the depths to which the corrosive and cancerous Hell belief can wreak havoc in fragile minds, especially young ones. According to Pat Bannister, some of her preliminary studies actually showed most young Hell believers were more prone to schizoid personality disorder, as well as schizophrenia. (Of course, some authorities have juxtaposed this and maintained the schizophrenia was already there and paved the way for hyper-Hell belief). For example, it's quite possible another hyper-Hell mongerer, Fred Phelps, is schizophrenic.

Bannister’s primary conclusion, however the etiology of the psychopathy developed, was that Hell belief was pathological for a human brain. Holding such a destructive belief over time, even if the person sincerely believed his “scriptures” validated it, and was as toxic for a brain as taking a brew of speed, heroin and alcohol. She also was convinced that early dementia could be one offshoot- if it wasn’t quickly brought under control.

Bannister’s later work (she died before it could be completed) separated the victims of Hell belief from the perpetrators of it. While “Myra” and Maura” were its victims, it was the Minister who delivered the scorching Elmer Gantry –like sermon who was the infectious agent. Thus, Hell belief is like a viral meme or mind virus that had to disseminate from one highly infected source.(Much like the God meme is disseminated from one infected brain to another, as Persinger showed in his ‘The Neuropsychological Bases of God Belief’)

What nature of source might this be? According to Harvey A. Hornstein in his terrific book Cruelty and Kindness: A New Look at Aggression and Altruism (Prentice-Hall, 1976, 'We and They', p.13.), the dogmatic belief mindset is germinated in the authoritarian personality type. This personality is pathologically rigid, absolutist and displays little or no flexibility. In the words of some, “It’s my way or the highway”.

The seed of this germination probably inheres in one or more incidents in the early life especially if the person was dominated by an authority figure, perhaps paddled by a teacher or threatened in some way. The experience then buries itself in the subconscious and though this person may spend most of its adult life exorcising its demons in drunkenness or whatnot, it eventually will come back to the authoritarian mindset that originally dominated it and use that as an experiential template. The generally accepted paradigm here is that of the "dry drunk": who had been addicted to his booze, but now left it behind - but became a sanctimonious sore head instead, who was gratified that he'd found a source (Bible) that validated his unseemly and insufferable self-righteousness. Ask most people, and nine of ten will aver they preferred the regular drunk to the new dry variety, devoid of any love, emotion and knowing only rules and rubrics....while launching jeremiads at all who didn't meet its moral or theological standards.

Not surprisingly, as Hornstein notes, many of these authoritarians become either military commanders, cult leaders (like Jim Jones and David Koresh) or ministers in extreme fundamentalist religions (like Fred Phelps). They find that in these venues their exercise of control is maximized to the hilt and there are few people with the moxie to challenge them. Further, they try to amplify their authority by basing its exercise on an independent external authority in which they invest their minds absolutely. For the military commander it may be the Joint chiefs, and for the minister – his KJV. Never mind either might be corrupted at the core, their word is “gospel” and more than enough for the authoritarian to spread his noxious material.

From reading Hornstein’s chapter on the nature of the authoritarian personality it isn’t likely that any of the usual treatments reserved for Hell-belief victims (such as ECT or psychotropic medications) would do a thing to alleviate the “religious dictator” Hell-pushing syndrome. Obviously, reason also has limited use, since the authoritarian simply dismisses all appeals to reason or logic and falls back on his corrupt bible- spewing out deformed quote after quote to convince himself he is in the right. Asking daft questions such as: “And what will you do, Mr. atheist, when you find yourself in Hell?” Well, obviously nothing since there is no Hell other than in this character’s febrile imagination and his defective scriptures. What HE will learn, is that when he’s dead, he’s dead. There won’t be so much as a wayward fairy to see,

To me, therefore, the only way to remove the insidious Hell virus is to implant quantum dot electrodes in the authoritarian’s brain – probably in both the temporal lobes and the reticular formation (near the amygdala). Quantum dot scales are now such that these could easily fit in numerous places, and if done correctly, act as a supplemental neural network to regulate thoughts. I firmly believe if the correct neocortical thresholds are established and then adapted to the dots' functions in situ (by appropriate voltage testing), it's feasible that the person will never be able to think of Hell again. If he even hints at it, it's possible for the dot to trigger an electro-chemical release that will overcome him with nausea. Obviously, if he can't think of it, he can't spread its vicious meme.

I firmly believe this is the last hope for Pastor Mike, to prevent him from any further dissemination of his Hell porn and perversions, that these may strike the minds of the vulnerable, especially impressionable children. Recall then the words of Yeshua, that it is better a millstone be hung arond the necks of those who would harm any child (including psychological trauma) and that they be cast into the sea.

But we shall be generous and regard Mike as disturbed mentally, not evil. So, we will hope that he gets himself to a proper mental health outlet to be treated....before his mental hallucinations and brain pathology renders him totally incapacitated....and merely a drooling shell attached to a low threshold ECT machine....that delivers small micro-amp jolts every hour.
Footnote: Contrary to one teepee crank who offered an intemperate comment (which was instantly deleted because of overuse of the f-word), orthodox Catholics do not push their hell concept relentlessly like the evangelicals do. In addition, the general teaching now for the Catholic version is one of separation from the Beatific vision NOT of "fire and brimstone". Other Catholic theologians, e.g. Hans Kung - Eternal Life? - have pointed out (p.173), the "eternal punishment" of Catholic doctrine inheres in the punishment being "definitive but not of literal eternal duration of the torment". As Kung notes (ibid.): "Neither in Judaism nor in the New Testament is there any uniform view of the period of punishment" thus (p.174) "the eternity of the punishment of Hell is not regarded as absolute". By contrast, ALL fundies DO regard it as absolute, but then what can you expect when they lack thinkers like Kung and always go for the rubber stamp motif?

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