Ok everyone... Here is an article I stumbled across online. What do you all think?
(Note: I am against religious fundamentalism of ANY kind, but I feel science has gone to far)
A leading academic has claimed that religious fundamentalism could soon be treated in the same way as mental illness.
Kathleen Taylor, a science author and research scientist at the University of Oxford, told the Hay Literary Festival techniques were already under development to help curb radicalised beliefs.
She also claimed behaviours such as hitting children could be treated with similar techniques.
'One man's positive can be another man's negative,' she told the festival, according to The Times.
'One of the surprises may be to see people with certain beliefs as people who can be treated.
'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.'
'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.
The controversial claim could also help treat problems such as child abuse, she said.
'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 categorised as mental illness.'
Miss Taylor has written series of books on the future of neurology, and says advances such as dream reading, mind control and others could soon create major privacy issues.
