Wendell W. Waters, M.D.
Caution–Christianity may be hazardous to your health.
The Christian religion presents itself as the way to contentment, spiritual health, and
salvation. But is this really true? In Deadly Doctrine: Health, Illness, and
Christian God-Talk, Dr. Wendell Watters offers a powerful argument, based on his many
years of clinical experience with individuals, couples, and families, that Christianity's
influence actually militates against human development in such vital areas as self-esteem,
sexuality, and social interactions. The tragic end result of Christian conditioning
is too often antisocial behavior, sexual dysfunction, poor psychological development,
anxiety, and even major psychiatric illness.
Christian indoctrination is not simply a problem affecting individuals or single families;
the noxious effects of its teachings over nearly two millennia pervade society at large,
even those who are not Christians, and in ways that seriously undermine human welfare and
the quality of life. Christianity's aggressive pronatalist policies have encouraged
large families regardless of parents' ability to cope either emotionally or
financially. With this the Christian church has formulated rigid sexual roles,
forbidding all practices not leading directly to conception. By actually promoting
sexual ignorance and irresponsibility, Christianity has allowed the proliferation of such
social ills as rape, child molestation, and pornography.
Recent research data in the fields of psychology and religion are adduced to show that
patients with rigid belief systems manifest greater racism and less openmindedness and
flexibility than those with a more questioning scientific attitude toward life.
Biological predispositions toward severe depression and schizophrenia may also be
aggravated by Christianity's promotion of an extreme body-soul dualism, self-denial, and
narrowly defined social roles.
The Christian church cannot, however, remain wholly impervious to society's demands for
change. Borrowing from the futuristic novel 1984, Dr. Watters describes how
Christianity has reluctantly undergone a process of "rectification," altering
its official views on slavery, democracy, psychoanalysis, sexuality and reproduction, and
religious toleration. Nonetheless, despite efforts at whitewashing, Christianity's
bloody record of inquisition, authoritanianism, and repression remains unchanged.
Indeed, during the last decade, church policies have moved toward greater conservativism.
In the face of so much human suffering resulting from Christian doctrine, it is imperative
that health care professionals, recognizing the Christian belief system as an addictive
disease, develop a religious status examination to help evaluate how notions about life
derived from Christian god-talk compromise individuals' healthy functioning. In
failing to determine the role of oppressive religious beliefs in mental illness,
physicians and other health care workers actually promote Christianity's continued
stranglehold on human happiness and self-fulfillment.
If we are to free ourselves from the destructive end towardbwhich god-talk is leading us,
we need to cure ourselves of our addiction to religious doctrines that teach us to deny
self-responsibility in all areas of our lives. Dr. Watters' suggestions for
restructuring social education provide a much-needed corrective to addictive religious
programs. Only with proper education comes the promise of recovery that will restore
the primacy of reason and critical thinking.
Wendell W. Watters, M. D., is Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry at McMaster University,
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
This book (cloth cover, 198 pages, bibliography, index, ISBN 0-87975-782-5) is
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