Sally Kern should be in treatment, not the OK legislature.
Oklahoma Rep’s ‘proclamation’ blames gays, porn, abortion for economic woes
Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern, probably best known for her comparison of homosexuality to toe cancer, has ignited controversy once again with her “Oklahoma Citizen’s Proclamation for Morality,” a document that blames America’s current economic crisis on “our greater national moral crisis.”
The document (PDF) blames “abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse and many other forms of debauchery” for the country’s economic woes.
To rectify the problem, it suggests the following solution: “BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, humbly call upon Holy God, our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, to have mercy on this nation, to stay His hand of judgment, and grant a national awakening of righteousness and Christian renewal as we repent of our great sin.”</em>
From Faith or Delusion? At the Crossroads of Religion and Psychosis
In clinical practice, no clear guidelines exist to distinguish between normal religious beliefs and pathological religious delusions.
…From an individual standpoint, a dimensional approach to delusional thinking (emphasizing conviction, preoccupation, and extension rather than content) may be useful in examining what is and is not pathological. When beliefs are shared by others, the idiosyncratic can become normalized. Therefore, recognition of social dynamics and the possibility of entire delusional subcultures is necessary in the assessment of group beliefs. Religious beliefs and delusions alike can arise from neurologic lesions and anomalous experiences, suggesting that at least some religious beliefs can be pathological. </em>
It is far past time to stop humoring the ill among us. If Sally Kern was standing on a street corner anywhere in world (other than Oklahoma, apparently) and began spouting her line of paranoiac religious gibberish, people would turn their heads and mutter “Poor woman”, and evidentially the police would remove her and order mental health testing. But stick her in a nice pantsuit in front of a microphone in the Oklahoma legislature, and suddenly her madness is patriotic instead of pathological?
No one wants Sally Kern to stop believing whatever she chooses to believe. No one is attempting to outlaw her faith. But faith is defined as a “belief in things unseen”, IE, non-reality. If Sally Kern’s proclamation called upon her toaster- or Santa Claus- to “grant a national awakening of righteousness and Christian renewal “ then she would be immediately impeached and sent for evaluation. Even in Oklahoma.
So why is she being taken even remotely seriously here? She is speaking nonsense, and using tax payers money to do so. Her state, like most around the nation, is suffering from a massive deficit, and instead of doing her job this quite literally insane woman is blaming it on gays and porn. Even the sorry state of Oklahoma deserves better than this. This isn’t leadership, or moral strength, it’s a religious delusion. This woman needs treatment, or at least needs to be removed from her position of public trust so she can be replaced by someone who’s mental illness doesn’t keep them from doing their job.
I’m not joking here. You wouldn’t vote for a schizophrenic to represent you in the legislature, so why vote for someone who is crippled by delusions and unable to lead?
