As far as I can see, that which they call religious faith is little but sexual submission gone terribly wrong; as in, it has become an all-permeating obsession. The worshipping on an idol of the mind. The psychopathology of this phenomenon can, however, be rationally explained in terms of biological mechanics: The human being is a social animal which relies heavily on an instinct we call the obedience reflex in order to survive childhood. That is to say; children who are too daring will get themselves killed, whereas children who are subordinate to the principle of adult authority will survive to come of age and spread this instinct to the next generation(s). Seen in context, religious faith becomes an expression of infantile regression, a refusal to grow up and take personal responsibility for your life.

The most important part of attaining adulthood is to become your own boss, form your own mind, and make your own decisions. Those who can't (or won't) do that are refusing to leave behind the sense of security that adult authority supplied them with during the childhood years. So they seek a substitute. "There must be an authority out there, somewhere, that can liberate me from this terrible anxiety of adulthood" they say to themselves. They are lost at sea, floating and bobbing around without a clue, terrified by the ominous ambiguity of life, desperately seeking something solid to hang on to.

We will never know whether the principle of religious faith was created with good intentions. Nor does it matter much. It contains a substitute for the lost harmony of your childhood, the comfortable illusion of living in a safe world that is controlled by people of authority; your parents and the other grown-ups. Later, we all find out that the story isn't quite like that. As we develop a better perspective, we also develop a sense of dread. Terrible things are happening. Some are conducted by bad people, others just happen with no seeming explanation at all. We intuitively understand that we are faced with the task of surviving in a dangerous world - and, in doing so, we will have to brace ourselves and take action. There is no going back to mommy. No more sweet lullabies.

What does authority mean? Existence has final and fatal authority, in the sense that we have no choice but to acquiesce, to submit to the basic principles of human life on this planet, or else we'll die. Some resent that fact. They can never quite get past the feeling of being loved and cared for - or at least kept within an orderly regime of predictable rules - that were the dominant life feeling of childhood. They don't want to grow up. They don't want to face the music. So they look for substitutes. Some take it at face value and find ways to indulge their need for relating to authority within the framework of an adult sexual relationship. These are the enlightened ones, those who own the ability to be amused by it all while still understanding the grave seriousness of the situation. Others, however, venture into insanity. They see ghosts. They hear voices. They harbour crazy ideas. They represent a danger to themselves and others. Unreasonably, they demand respect for this, as if it is a virtue to surrender your adult independence and freedom of thought to some arbitrary system of assumptions which demands blind submission to an idol of the mind.