Freethought Mental Health Message Board?
Posted on: September 2, 2007 - 2:12pm
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Freethought Mental Health Message Board?
I chat on a mental health board, because I have panic disorder and OCD. I would like to find one where the members are not religious, as a majority. I get a little sick of hearing about faith and God all the time. I'm not putting people down, but I need out of that environment. Additionally, I get tired of people saying to me that God cares and them talking about miracles and evidence that doesn't exist.
I'm not finding much Googling, but maybe I'm using the wrong search terms. Does anyone have any links that can help me? Thank you.
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I think you will be hardpressed to find such a forum that had rules against religious bullshit.
I personally consider suggestions of invoking religious faith as a method of helping people as a form of verbal abuse.
Someone telling me god cares is a slap in the face. They aren't saying this to help anyone but themselves. They say it because they are afraid and it makes them feel better.
People who think there is something they refer to as god don't ask enough questions.
The one I'm on (but others, too) talks about respecting others' beliefs, but they don't see that it's disrespectful to me for people to mention faith and God to everyone, when not everyone believes in them. I find it insulting. They mean well, but it's disrespectful, nevertheless.
And, on this board, all posts have to be supportive, so it's ok for someone to post a cross in their signature or avatar, but I'm pretty sure that, if I posted a cross with a circle and line through it, I'd be told to remove it. Or if I posted a quote against religion. Maybe I'll try it, just to see what happens. Nothing too strong, but just advocating my views.
I really hope I can find a freethought forum for mentally ill persons. Maybe I should start one, but I hate having to deal with spam, trolls, hackers and all that.
I wonder if anyone connected to the REBT site has such a board? Albert Ellis was a strong atheist who found religion to be a mental disorder.
"Hitler burned people like Anne Frank, for that we call him evil.
"God" burns Anne Frank eternally. For that, theists call him 'good.'
This is so fucked up!!!
I posted a thread on the aforementioned psych board a few days, entitled, "Freethinkers," seeking out other freethinkers on the board. These boards require that all posts be supportive and stay on topic. Some posted with the misunderstanding of what "freethinker" meant, as opposed to "free thinker," and got offended because I said you don't choose your beliefs (you believe because of what convinces you, which is determined by your experiences in life; you can't choose to believe there's an invisible dog in the room, if you don't honestly believe there is...you can tell yourself there's one, but if you don't truly believe it, you don't believe it). Anyway, I pointed out that I wasn't there for debate--and in the Spirituality forum, you're not allowed to debate!!!--and was only trying to find other freethinkers on the board.
When I went to read that forum a few minutes ago, there was another thread which I read first, because it was related to mine, and that's when I read that my thread had been locked (and I checked afterwards, finding it to be true)!!! I am so pissed! Not necessarily surprised, but pissed!!!
This is why I want to find a mental health forum for freethinkers. I emailed the board owner at The Secular Web, but he knew of none. *Sigh!*
If you want to read the thread, PM me and I'll tell you where to find it.
The idea that one is not free to believe whatever one wnats is necessarily highly offensive to a christian - it means that it cannot be a sin to not accept jesus, which would make the christian god the most evil creature imaginable: torturing people eternally for something that is not even freely chosen.
So theists have no choice but to get angry.
Ok, but I can already guess at how irrational, hateful and stupid the reply was.....
You might as well search for compassion in a NYC traffic jam.
"Hitler burned people like Anne Frank, for that we call him evil.
"God" burns Anne Frank eternally. For that, theists call him 'good.'
Sounds like it became a debate thread very quickly when they started asking what is a freethinker.
Interestingly enough, there is a forum called Spirituality. Where's the Secular forum? I bet there isn't any.
Maybe you can start a thread stating you want only secular responses (however, I don't think you'll be able to put it in the Spirituality forum).
People who think there is something they refer to as god don't ask enough questions.
No, there isn't a Secular forum. This is how the Spirituality forum is set up:
Sanctuary for Spiritual Support
This Sanctuary is a place for people of all spiritual beliefs and faiths to offer support and compassion to each other in the form of prayers, meditation, and expressions of spirituality. This forum is for support, not religious debate.I think it obvious why they locked your thread. It wasn't woowooish enough.
I've been thinking recently that there isn't much support in the medical community for secularity.
I am an OT student and spirituality is included very often in conversation. When we go through case studies, the fictional character in the case study always, always always goes to church or synagogue or something. When I write case studies, I intentionally leave spirituality out. I think my next case study might be an outspoken atheist
Anyway, there just isn't much support in the medical community for atheists. Even my own mother - who believes in god but dislikes organized religion - got pissed because when she went in for foot surgery, a pastor came in and said he wanted to pray over her. She said she didn't want him to do that, but he did anyway.
When we have guest speakers with various disabilities, they often mention "faith" as being important to them.
So, not to hijack your thread, but I have been thinking of starting some type of community specifically for secular/atheist/freethinking people with physical and mental impairments. At least I know one person is in need of it (that would be you).
Your resident OTD/S, Christina
A good scientist will always change her mind if new evidence is presented which gives her sufficient reason to change it.
www.ziztur.com
I think there are a lot of people who would be interested in it. Please let me know if you do something like this.
One person responded to me, saying I should have posted it in the "General" forum, rather than a forum for spirituality. Maybe, but I feel that's discriminatory, that I have to be "general" while the people who are really part of the club get their own forum.
Ok, so now, a couple other threads were started (not by me), and the last one is quite clearly a debate (which isn't allowed), and I'm the one who got warned. I'll post a few bits, if I may, to show the attitude of this forum:
From the new thread:
Here's part of my response (again, if you want to see the whole threads, PM me and I'll share the URL), after being told the spirituality forum is not for secular chat, and there's no need for a secular forum, because all the other forums are secular:
This is why I'm leaving. I'd been told that I could find plenty of freethought sites, and I should go there, but they don't address mental health issues. I should have said religious persons could also go to outside forums. I think I'm done, so I won't bother. I also had commented that it was funny how we're not supposed to debate, yet the thread had been clearly started with that intent (again, not by me).
For the record, this was the post that started it all:
The moderator's response (in part):
I criticized the belief about belief...saying that people don't choose to believe anything; something convinces them it's true or it isn't, or convinces neither way. I didn't say anything negative about people's specific beliefs.
And my post got edited. I mentioned how telling me to go elsewhere was like prayer in school, where some tell you that it's okay; you can just leave the room while others pray. They'll tell you you're in the club, and you can participate, but you need to leave if you don't like some of the things the club does. Hence, you're not really part of the club.
I'm really bitter about being discriminated against this way. And I wish more freethinkers on the board had spoken up.
I would be interested. It would be nice to have some place where you could talk with others who have similiar problems or situations. And it would be so refreshing not hear 'god will make it better'.
Interesting stuff SassyDevil. Indeed, they just don't "get it."
I have to wonder, are the people who run this forum mental health professionals? What about the moderators?
People who think there is something they refer to as god don't ask enough questions.
I forgot if it was IG or Rational Responders, but there was a guest on one of these shows that started a secular non-religious verson of AA. His group, from what I understand did take up a public room,(school or library) something like that, and the AA people got pissed because more people wanted to get sober through the secular program. I think AA managed to get them booted. IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY.
But, yea, there is very little and hard to find mental health services for people who dont buy superstition. It sickens me that religious people "tollerate" others untill they compete with them.
They are not content simply helping someone to help them, they have to go beyond that and advertise their superstition.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
AiiA, the owner of the board is a psychiatrist. He hasn't weighed in on this discussion, but a moderator has. I don't think she's a mental health professional, but I could be wrong. I think she (and other mods) are just people who hang out on the boards who have problems, and got picked to mod.
I didn't post at all today, but I saw one member left a definition of spirituality, or what the spiritual forums are for. I am not stupid; I knew the spirituality forums weren't really for my request to find other freethinkers. But I didn't want to post it in General, since I was seeking friends in the context of freethought support. The religious idiots on that board think that if you don't need religious support, then you don't need comfort and support in the context of freethought. They can't grasp it; they think atheists believe in nothing.
Just peeked in the spirituality forum, and one bitch posted this:
Then the poster and the other member blessed each other.
I just feel pissed because I didn't do anything wrong, and I got treated like that, and no one spoke up for me. Well, scratch that--one person did say a little something:
I'd stated that anyone is free to block me, that if I offend them, there's no requirement that they read or post responses. So, I think this guy was supporting me...he'd agreed with me on some topics in a different forum (mostly on porn) before.
Why can't theists see how they discriminate and how freethinkers deserve to be treated equally? I feel like they think I'm "less" than them.
Incidentally, this was the text of my last post: