Leading neuroscientist: Religious fundamentalism may be a ‘mental illness’ that can be ‘cured’

Leading neuroscientist: Religious fundamentalism may be a ‘mental illness’ that can be ‘cured’ | The Raw Story.

“One of the surprises may be to see people with certain beliefs as people who can be treated,” she explained, according to The Times of London. “Somebody who has for example become radicalised 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,” she explained. “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.”