[pyentropy]

You haven't read Scott's blog enough :)

He's an atheist psychiatrist. However, he enjoys how natural selection, social dynamics and reputation can also be modeled by the moral rules of most religions. For example, going to therapy isn't that different from practicing confessions in a church.

[keiferski]

Therapy is only similar to confession in a descriptive sense, from an external observer that doesn't believe in the religion in question. For the believer, it's a very different thing to be confessing sins to a representative of the divine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_description

[sterlind]

He also wrote Unsong, a sprawling work of kabbalistic magical realism, full of deep references to Judaism and Christianity (and groan-inducing puns.) Highly recommend if you're a lapsed Catholic or a secular Jew.

[the_af]

> For example, going to therapy isn't that different from practicing confessions in a church.

Depends on the kind of therapy. Some are more dogmatic and one might even call them "religious" (overloading the word), while other forms of therapy are more grounded and based on empiricism -- the latter ones are far removed from religious confession.

[paulryanrogers]

> For example, going to therapy isn't that different from practicing confessions in a church.

If your therapist responds to your sharing by suggesting that straying from their advice, or some kooky ancient text, results in eternal damnation then run far away. Churches can be devastating to ones mental health. Do not recommend.

[kaonwarb]

> Churches can be devastating to ones mental health. Do not recommend.

No issue with your first clause: indeed, churches can be devastating to one's mental health (as can ~anything). That observation does not support your second clause. Religiosity is generally associated with lower mental health problems [0]. Correlation is not causation, of course; difficult to do a prospective study in this field.

[0] E.g., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8462234/

[datameta]

This is as silly of a strawman as creating a scenario where in the confession booth your priest goes over the BioPsychoSocial model and how their mental health is important for their overall well-being.