A Religious "Overdose
mohammad
Published: 01/04/2005
The problem started when Fulan became overly involved in religious
activities. In his ever growing fantasy, he came to present himself
as the only pious Muslim at work (salafush shâleh) and as the only
person there who had a ticket to heaven.
Fulan was an employee at a government office who had graduated from
a state university. Several months ago, he was dismissed as he had
become engaged in disputes about religion with his colleagues too
often.
The problem started when Fulan became overly involved in religious
activities. In his ever growing fantasy, he came to present himself
as the only pious Muslim at work (salafush shâleh) and as the only
person there who had a ticket to heaven.
Though his colleagues and his wife were disturbed by Fulan's mental
turmoil, he himself did not regret losing his job or his mental
changes He still persisted in his beliefs and interpreted such
trials as the result of his struggle. Although his wife and children
suffered the consequences, to him it did not matter. When his wife
began to complain that Fulan's behavior was becoming more and more
authoritarian and violent, he ignored her, frequently leaving his
home and neglecting his responsibility to take care of the household
expenses.
It is hard to find adequate language to explain what happened to
Fulan though an understanding of the psychology of religion may
help. Religion according to psychologists can be the source of many
problems ranging from mental disease to orthodoxy, dogmatism, racial
presumption, and violence. In fact, a dogmatic, orthodox and overly
pious religious perception correlates significantly with emotional
disorder. On the contrary, as Jalaluddin Rahmat writes in Psikologi
Agama, mentally stable people tend to be lenient, open-minded,
tolerant, and open to change. In contrast, religious persons tend to
be rigid, introverted, intolerant, and incapable of change.
In the above view, psychologists have an extreme and negative
perception of religion. However, this framework is still relevant
for explaining Fulan's condition which is common among religious
zealots. Using medical terminology, we can understand Fulan's
experience in terms of it being an illness from an overdose of
religion which caused an extreme change in his religious
perspective, attitude and behavior. In his case, religion which
should have been a form of medicine (syifa) but it became a poison
instead because of over-dosing. This incident became a topic of
discussion during Liberal Islamic Network's fourth anniversary.
The problem is that such religious overdoses can become social
epidemics and culminate in international tragedies as Ioanes Rakhmat
pointed out for the case of Christian Zionism. Rakhmat believes that
the Christian Zionist Movement is suffering from a religious
overdose since they have used religion as a reason for war and
sponsored hatred for other religions and races. Taking a different
approach, Lies Marcoes, another speaker in the discussion, asserted
that an overdose of religion - just as is the case with drugs - will
eventually destroy the victim's mind.
Indeed, it is because of these destructive effects of being overly
pious that religious treatises have long warned adepts to beware of
overdosing on religion. Thus it is that in Islam, the Qur'an and
Hadits warn disciples not to exaggerate their religiosity: Lâ Taghlû
Fî Dînikum.
(This article is translated to English version by Lanny Octavia and
edited by Jonathan Zilberg, previously published in Indonesian on
7/3/2005)