Excuse me interrupting here, but can you clarify something, Druid?
Your last couple of posts seem to be saying that you believe that "lack of faith" is a faith in itself. Have I misunderstood you?

I have stated that am agnostic and have no faith in religion or god. That does not necessarily mean that if corporeal evidence is presented that I won't examine that evidence and seek the merits in it.

I can't help but interpret what you are saying as:
If you don't understand us, that's our fault for not making things clear, yet if we don't understand you that is also our fault because we are choosing not to understand. Please clarify.

The language you have used in a number of posts appears to us corporeal people as very cryptic. I, for one, am finding it difficult to get a handle on the points you are trying to make, that is why I and Phill are asking so many questions. It isn't that we are trying to paint you into a corner, its just that we don't understand the meaning of some of your posts.

As I see it so far, (correct me if I am wrong) what you seem to be saying is that your faith is true to you and that your faith is not a psychological illness. I also percieve that you are conceding in earlier posts that some may be obsessed and that the "faith" they are incessantly throwing into people's face may be a symptom of that. I would say that is fair comment. But to claim that simply because people ask you why you think that your faith is real, that they are refusing to understand you, is rather a spurious argument. We simply want to understand what you are saying so that we can debate in a civil way with mutual understanding of each other's viewpoint.

There seems to have developed a certain amount of defensive entrenchment here which is not really necessary. We are all expressing our opinions and, as such are opening them up for discussion. In the end, we will all reach our own individual personal conclusions.

As has been pointed out, it is not implied that all who have faith are mentally ill. The hypothisis is aimed at those whos faith takes over their life and stifles their ability to function within society.

You have faith, Druid, and that's fine, but does your faith take precidence over everything else in your life? Would you put it above your family, or even your own personal safety? Some would. It is that kind of faith which is discussed in the opening post and in the article referred to.

So faith, per se, is not considered a psychological disorder by most people that have responded on this thread, but obsessive faith is a different matter. Faith is also not limited to religion. Someone can be equally obsessive about their faith in politics, race, chauvinism, feminism, diet, animal rights and a host of other things.

In a title to a post, you only have a certain number of characters you can type, so it is always best to keep the title short and explain what you mean in the opening post. That is why the title is not necessarily the sum total of the question being asked.

John