People need myths to live by,but the fundamentalist myths and interpretation of myth needs some serious rework to stay relevant to modern day life.
Improper interpretation of scripture and making that interpretation of scripture a mandatory belief or else become shunned and cast out of the group is where an abuse of authority happens and unknowingly forces the convert into a thought pattern acceptable to the leaders.
Force beliefs in order not to be destroyed by the Deity lends it self well overt coercion by fear for one's life. A brain operating under this type of stressful situation causes brain damage, or controlling ones thoughts and emotions by means of implanted fears shrinks the brain:
A neurologist has published a new book in which she asserts that religious fundamentalism could soon be classified as a mental illness. University of Oxford neurologist Kathleen Taylor says that it’s not only religious fundamentalism that could be categorized as a mental illness, but other forms of extreme or radical beliefs as well.
The Times reports that Taylor says people who have fundamentalist religious beliefs, cult members, and even people who think it is a good idea to beat their children could soon be viewed as mentally ill and received corresponded treatment to cure their illness. Taylor explained:
One of the surprises may be to see people with certain beliefs as people who can be treated. Someone who has for example become radicalized to a cult ideology — we might stop seeing that as a personal choice that they have chosen as a result of pure free will and may start treating it as some kind of mental disturbance…I am not just talking about the obvious candidates like radical Islam or some of the more extreme cults. I am talking about things like the belief that it is OK to beat your children. These beliefs are very harmful but are not normally categorized as mental illness. In many ways that could be a very positive thing because there are no doubt beliefs in our society that do a heck of a lot of damage, that really do a lot of harm.”
Her new book, The Brain Supremacy, delves into the issue of religious fundamentalism but it also contains a warning about the development of new technologies that have the possibility of altering humans’ brains to such an extent that the idea of what is considered “good” or “bad” could be permanently changed:...……
In addition to the possibility of religious fundamentalism being treated as a mental illness in the near future, other scientists have found a link between shrinkage of the hippocampus, a large and significant section of the brain, and those who hold deeply religious or spiritual beliefs. In a study entitled Religious Factors and Hippocampal Atrophy in Late Life, lead neurologist Amy Owen wrote that deeply spiritual people with no religious affiliation as well as born-again people affiliated with various religious groups showed atrophy in the hippocampus:
Significantly greater hippocampal atrophy was observed for participants reporting a life-changing religious experience. Significantly greater hippocampal atrophy was also observed from baseline to final assessment among born-again Protestants, Catholics, and those with no religious affiliation, compared with Protestants not identifying as born-again.
There have been numerous studies that link religious experiences with less depression, but a more recent and widespread study by bioltechnologist Tom Rees found that religious belief did not ha