Religion is a mental health disease, and one of the few that is encouraged to be communicable.

Hi friend!

Autism and brain damage are not diseases. They are disorders.

A disease is something contagious that does harm to your body or mind that is caused by an external source (like a virus)

A disorder is an abnormality of normal functioning caused by an internal issue. Like asthma, or allergies. I am allergic to cats, but hanging out with me won’t make you become allergic to cats if you weren’t before you met me.

You can’t catch autism or brain damage from being close to or listening to someone who has them. But you can “catch” harmful religious beliefs in this way.

I do agree with you about how religions are really interesting and culturally significant systems that humans have used to try and understand the world around them. That part of religion is pretty cool and worth studying for sure!

/r/atheism Thread Parent