Deana,

I would agree that a fair amount may have mental disorders but even that is highly speculative to assume
they do. When someone is mentally deranged like in your examples it is pretty clear. You seem to be
thinking on a more individual level whereas I am talking about a level that affects a mass amount of
people. Take cults for example, a cult leader is a highly persuasive person that can sway people into
believing things that are unreasonable, but it does not necessarily mean that person that follows them has
a mental disorder. I have seen many accounts of people that have joined cults for a number of years and
when they finally come to their senses they make efforts to leave, realizing it was not conducive to their
well-being. Another example would be politics; most people follow certain politicians based on their lies,
half-truths, and religion. America is majorly a Christian based nation and based on that notion some
members of the Republicans party have claimed that Barack Obama is a Muslim even though he states
otherwise. My points are; 1) even if he was a Muslim why would this be an issue based on our freedoms
to express any religion; and 2) Why would one even question his faith if he states he is a Christian? The
problem is that some people are so extreme with their mythological beliefs that they are easily swayed by
others with little proof or factual basis. Thoughts?