Deserved "intellect whippings" aside, for some Theists, I have heard it described as a kind of "Home Sickness," wherein no-one, even the world itself, measures up to the ideal.

And, if we look closer at some of the romantic idealism, we find the young Jesus, replete with trade skills, heading off into the country where he earns his keep by helping out the cockies of that time repair their agricultural equipment, get the crop in or get the harvest done on time.

I'd add at this point that even today if you turn up and give the locals a hand to get them over the hump that you end up pretty popular and on the receiving end of a lot of good hospitality.

But, as some would tell it, with JC there was something more, something that made people pause and look, a person who did not have to make spider webs of laws backed by lethal force, but rather someone who people were naturally attracted to and instinctively loyal to.

And no doubt, he had more than his fair share of secret admirers.

And yet, what did he do with this new found adulation? Well, as the story is told by some, he went out of his way to seek out and heal those afflicted with illness, including those suffering so called "Demonic possession."

Now, even today in places I have visited such people are chained by the foot, straight jacketed and kept in a "monkey house." And, given the general unavailability of quality modern psychiatry, it is not without reason that ultimately it falls upon the family (which certainly pains some of them deeply) to incarcerate their loved ones in this fashion.

If nothing else, such tales perhaps reflect the deep longings and aspirations of a persecuted and down trodden people struggling to survive.

..

And what do we have in the guvment today?

Well, they say Jesus, but they seem Hell bent on inflicting Demons (psychiatric impediment) on even children.

Dear David,

<<I have followed your advice>>

Excellent! But still, strangely you claim that you are not religious...

And ironically, that those foolish people who display intolerance ARE religious (just because they say so?). Would you seriously consider that people who burn others at the stake could ever lead you to God?

Certainly, Epicurus was more religious than most contemporary priests and Imams. I happen to agree with some of his teachings: while I do not share all his beliefs, it's not their contents which matter, but the way they affect your spirit. By following Epicurus devotedly, you may eventually reach God - or at least make good progress.

<<There is only the world. The spiritual pursuit is looking for something which doesn't exist>>

There is no world - existence is an illusion. The spiritual pursuit is to wake up from this nightmare, rather than hanging on to it, trying to have a good time while it lasts.

Now given that spiritual pursuit is not after anything that exists (and I agree), why are you complaining about religious belief conflicting with science?

DreamOn,
I might mention that belief in demons is a pagan concept widespread in New Testament times rising from Greek and Persian mythology that permeated society at that time as Israel had been was under the spread of Persian and Greek views of the world. The Greeks believed alcohol contained spirits that entered the person on consumption and we still use the term spirits today. Christ was about freeing people from the belief spirits controlled them and this was done by freeing them. If they believed they were free they were free of the superstition.

Some uninformed Christians and certainly Muslims still believe in demons as do many primitive Asian cultures.

'Faith is the antithesis of all thinking human beings.
Blind, unthinking dogma that inevitably leads to hatred and violence.'

Utter rubbish.

And I'm an athiest

By far the nastiest and most violent people in Australia are those of the socialist alliance. They are intolerant, bigoted and self righteous. Many belong to the gw religion I suspect. Certainly a display of faith.

No mere Pagan concept alone I would say Josephus, as it has a psychiatric basis to it.

And, with the different levels of understandings as they are and has they have been in the past, if you could experience something of what a sufferer of say Schizophrenia "sees" & "hears"

(and the other sense can also be involved)

then I am reasonably certain that you would conclude that it was not "illogical" for people to conclude "Demonic Possession" even if the extent of your ability to experience that was limited to observation of the afflicted.

And of course, environmental pressures and certain substance can also induce altered states of consciousness such as Psychosis, like the amphetamines used by the German and Japanese militaries during WWII,

(and the West has also indulged in this)

or the more modern and cruder varieties such as that allegedly being used by ISIS.