Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

February 23, 2012

In pagan antiquity and the medieval era, absolute rulers allied themselves with religious leaders who preached submission. In the 20^th Century, the Soviet regime, which dictated atheism as official dogma, turned to a different priesthood ? psychiatry ? in order to treat dissent and non-conformity as symptoms of psychological derangement.

[Defying the prejudices of his own academic discipline,] clinical psychologist Bruce E. Levine points out that the same is true of contemporary America.

America?s culture of liberty is an outgrowth of the Protestant Reformation, which emphasized a Bible-defined individual relationship with God and placed conscience, rather than clergy, at the center of that relationship.

Today, notes Levine (who is not a Christian believer), ?many natural anti-authoritarians are now psychopathologized and medicated before they achieve political consciousness?.? This is because ?The selection and socialization of mental health professionals tends to breed out many anti-authoritarians. Degrees and credentials are primarily badges of compliance.?

While acknowledging that many people suffer from legitimate psychological afflictions, Levine points out that the psychological establishment works to ?criminalize anti-authoritarianism,? diagnose those displaying that tendency as suffering from a clinical condition, and ?market drugs for their `cure.??

[Although there are more than a few conscientious psychiatrists, the profession itself has become the priesthood of a proto-totalitarian state. ]

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.