One of my favorite Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson shows a man lying on the couch as the psychiatrist writes on his notepad, “Just plain nuts!” I suspect we have all encountered people that prompted such a thought to cross our minds; I certainly had the thought cross my mind with certain patients. In fact, I had a medical partner once who would actually make a special mark in a patient’s chart if he thought she was a little wacky. You may recall the Seinfeld episode[1] where Elaine is desperate to get hold of her medical chart because she thinks her doctor has put a notation marking her as a difficult patient. Funny, but probably reality-based!
I realize it is difficult to make a psychiatric diagnosis on someone without a direct interview and observation, but I have a serious concern about one of the pivotal figures in the religious world. To make the situation more difficult there is no way to know how much of the story is factual (if any) and how much is legendary. But I’ll just take the story at face value for this exercise.
The three major monotheistic religions in the world are Judaism, Christianity and Islam and they all look back to one man as the father of faith: Abraham. Abraham was said to be the founder of the Jewish people through his son Isaac, the founder of the Arab people through his son Ishmael, and a direct ancestor of Jesus, So, I have the potential to offend most of the theists in the world. Let’s examine the main points of his life, as depicted in Genesis.
Abraham believed that God called him to go to the land of Canaan where he would father a great nation (Genesis 12). In medical terms when one believes God or some other great authority has given you special position or privilege that is called a “delusion of grandeur.” We will note that as Symptom #1 of a possible psychiatric diagnosis. I realize one could argue that the Jews did become a great nation, thus vindicating Abraham, but take the case of Genghis Khan: it is estimated that perhaps 16 million people today are descendants of him even though he started 3 millennia after Abraham! If you get an early start it is not a special feat to father a large number of descendants, so that doesn’t prove God’s favor.
No sooner does Abram go to the “Land of Milk and Honey” than a famine sets in. Abraham and his wife have to go down to Egypt. There Abraham does not trust God to protect them so he passes off his beautiful wife as his sister, who gets taken into Pharaoh’s household. As a result Pharaoh blesses Abraham with wealth, but God then afflicts Pharaoh and his household. It seems to me that God should have punished Abraham, not Pharaoh, but that’s another discussion. The situation even repeats itself in Genesis 20. Lying to protect yourself while endangering others is a potential trait of sociopathy: Symptom #2.
Next he believes that God wants him to kill a cow, a goat, a ram, a dove and a pigeon (Genesis 15). Why God would be pleased to see animals He carefully crafted killed like this is not explained here or elsewhere in the Bible. Cruelty to animals is yet another potential sign of sociopathy. Symptom #3.
Abraham and Sarah are old, and still no children as God had promised. So, they take things into their own hands. Sarah gives Abraham her slave Hagar to have sex with in hopes of having a child. Genesis 25:6 tells us that randy old Abraham also had other concubines besides Hagar. In Genesis 20:12 Abraham says his wife Sarah is also his half-sister. Maybe that was accepted in that culture at that time, but it only adds to his kinkiness. Hypersexuality and sexual aggression as evidenced by Abraham having sex with his half-sister, the maid and other sex slaves is another potential sign of sociopathy. Symptom #4.[2]
Hagar bears a son, but Sarah, who suggested this in the first place, becomes jealous of them and demands their expulsion. The story softens this by saying God told Abraham that Ishmael would also father a nation, but it doesn’t explain why neither God nor Abraham would stand up to Sarah, and it doesn’t excuse Abraham for abandoning his fatherly responsibilities.. So, hen-pecked Abraham drives Hagar and his own son Ishmael out into the desert without adequate supplies or protection, likely to die. Such cruelty and lack of empathy clearly merits Symptom #5 on the sociopathy list. Abraham’s lack of a backbone is bothersome, but I’m not sure that is another symptom.
But the worst is yet to come.
Next Abraham gets the idea that cutting off the foreskin[3] of the penis (circumcision) would make God happy (Genesis 17:9-14). What God has against foreskins is never explained, since God apparently designed men that way. It is said to be a sign of the covenant with God. So, I imagine two men crossing paths in the desert. They want to know if the other is a worshipper of the true God. So, they pull up their robes and show off their penises. Really? So, all of the men in Abraham’s household are circumcised, and millions of men afterwards. Down to today. Mutilation of his sexual organ, and forcing it on all the men in his household, is a very troubling symptom, of either sociopathy or outright psychopathy. Symptom #6.
Fast forward to Genesis 22 and we find one of the most troubling passages of the entire Bible. God tells Abraham:
“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
This story is called the Akedah, or The Binding. And Abraham is not just to kill him, but to roast him, perhaps so God can smell the sweet aroma of a roasting person, like He enjoyed the soothing aroma of Noah’s burnt offerings? Do you grasp how perverse this is? Imagine talking with your neighbor and he tells you he is making preparations to offer his son as a burnt offering to God. Would you respond, “Wow, what great faith you have!” or would you suggest evaluation by a doctor or intervention by the police? Such utter cruelty to one’s own son must merit Symptom #7. We will discuss this sacrifice in more detail in the next chapter.
So, we have multiple symptoms that suggest that Abraham, the great patriarch of the three monotheistic religions, was “just plain nuts.”
1. Delusion of grandeur.
2. Lying for personal gain without concern for its impact on others.
3. Cruelty to animals.
4. Hypersexuality/sexual aggression.
5. Apathy/lack of empathy.
6. Genital mutilation.
7. Willing to kill his own son and then roast him.
8. I would suggest that items 2, 4, 5 and 7 show a rather conspicuous lack of a moral compass.
As a medical doctor I can tell you that anyone manifesting all these symptoms would be classified as a sociopath or outright psychotic, and destined for the psychiatric ward, or at least proper medications and supervision. And yet this man is held up as the example of piety and faith for Christianity, Judaism and Islam Abraham may have been merely a legend created to serve as the father of the Jewish people, to receive God’s blessing, but why would you create a hero with such problematic characteristics? He is not just flawed, but downright disturbed, a potential danger to others. In any other context Abraham’s actions would be quite worrisome, not praiseworthy. What does this tell us about the way the ancients viewed God, religion and their religious leaders? Did they observe such outlandish behavior and interpret it as religious zeal to be imitated rather than an indication of dangerous mental instability? Ponder the idea that the world’s major religions, which have had and continue to have so much influence over civilization, are based on the portrayal of mental illness as religious zeal. How would that influence people as they select and follow religious leaders? No wonder their adherents have demonstrated over the centuries that they also are capable of arrogance, murder, cruelty, deception, lack of empathy, self-abuse and sexual misconduct. They’re just following the leader.
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Thinking Exercises:
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1. Why do you think ancient religions offered up animal sacrifices to their gods, including the Hebrew/Jewish religion? Why would God appreciate the killing of the animals He created? Does this suggest that the ancients thought of God (or the gods) as very human-like rather than transcendent, enjoying a good barbecue, or that they perhaps needed such sustenance to survive?
2. If the leader of your church had a child with his maid whom he then abandoned and later tried to kill another son, would you still support him? So why do three major religions look to such a man as a great example?
3. Throughout history there have been people who have done extreme things, including killing others, sometimes in large numbers, in the name of their god. How do you differentiate between great faith and serious mental illness in such cases?
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[1] “The Package” was the fifth episode for the eighth season, originally airing on October 17, 1996.
[2] Some will argue that Hagar was a wife based on Genesis 16:3, but note that Sarah the owner of Hagar “gave her” to Abraham, like a possession; there is nothing to suggest Hagar had a choice in the matter. And Abraham does not treat her like a wife, as the story unfolds.
[3] The retractable hood of skin covering the end of the penis.