It occurs to me that I would not want to call anyone evil - or bad or any word like that. Deeds are good and evil. People are people.
That having been said, I don't have any respect for suicide bombers. And I disgusted by the people who talk them into it.
As a whole, I have a respect for other religions and for their devoted practitioners - but only as far as those practices involve doing no harm to other people.
Even if a person's religious practices cause harm to him/herself or to others, I would not call that person mentally ill. If I did, I would need to label entire cultures as mentally ill - such as those that practice female genital mutilation. This is something I disapprove of, but it is a cultural/religious issue, not one of mental illness.
As for Rav Scheinberg, I would not call him mentally ill, not would I call you mentally ill just for wearing that many layers of clothing. (though I am not sure what I would say if this were to occur in 95 degree weather in a place without air conditioning, etc.) I might call such a person eccentric, and I might even say they were crazy, but by crazy, I would not mean mentally ill - I would mean one or two steps beyond eccentric.
That having been said, I do know of at least one form of mental illness that is connected to religion. I believe it is called scrupulosity. It is one specific type of obsessive compulsive disorder, in which the obsessive compulsive thoughts/behaviors are connected to religious practice. (I don't know much about it, but my sense is that such a person might, for example, be constantly worried that a single hair would poke out from under her head covering, or would do damage to the kitchen by cleaning way too thoroughly for Pesach - and still be up all night worrying about whether he missed a speck of Chametz.) Actually, come to think of it, depending upon Rav Scheinberg's reasons for wearing so many layers of tzitzit, he might fit into this category. (I know absolutely nothing about him.) If he does it because he wants to feel holier, and do the mitzvah many times, or something like that, then I stick with my first opinion. If, however, he is worried that each set of tzitzit is not kosher, and that he will not fulful the mitzvah, so he must wear this many sets just to be absolutely certain that one set is kosher, I think would consider that a form of mental illness.
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Re: Suicide Bombers, & Suicide
Date: 2005-07-15 09:19 pm (UTC)That having been said, I don't have any respect for suicide bombers. And I disgusted by the people who talk them into it.
As a whole, I have a respect for other religions and for their devoted practitioners - but only as far as those practices involve doing no harm to other people.
Even if a person's religious practices cause harm to him/herself or to others, I would not call that person mentally ill. If I did, I would need to label entire cultures as mentally ill - such as those that practice female genital mutilation. This is something I disapprove of, but it is a cultural/religious issue, not one of mental illness.
As for Rav Scheinberg, I would not call him mentally ill, not would I call you mentally ill just for wearing that many layers of clothing. (though I am not sure what I would say if this were to occur in 95 degree weather in a place without air conditioning, etc.) I might call such a person eccentric, and I might even say they were crazy, but by crazy, I would not mean mentally ill - I would mean one or two steps beyond eccentric.
That having been said, I do know of at least one form of mental illness that is connected to religion. I believe it is called scrupulosity. It is one specific type of obsessive compulsive disorder, in which the obsessive compulsive thoughts/behaviors are connected to religious practice. (I don't know much about it, but my sense is that such a person might, for example, be constantly worried that a single hair would poke out from under her head covering, or would do damage to the kitchen by cleaning way too thoroughly for Pesach - and still be up all night worrying about whether he missed a speck of Chametz.) Actually, come to think of it, depending upon Rav Scheinberg's reasons for wearing so many layers of tzitzit, he might fit into this category. (I know absolutely nothing about him.) If he does it because he wants to feel holier, and do the mitzvah many times, or something like that, then I stick with my first opinion. If, however, he is worried that each set of tzitzit is not kosher, and that he will not fulful the mitzvah, so he must wear this many sets just to be absolutely certain that one set is kosher, I think would consider that a form of mental illness.