Is God a Psychopath?

Firstly we have to define what it is that we are talking about.

The God being addressed in this article is the Abrahamic God of the Bible, and as such, Biblical scripture and commonly held Christian beliefs will be used as evidence to support the case being presented.

The term Psychopath is rarely used in modern professional psychiatry, and it is often used as being interchangeable with the term Sociopath, and both of these conditions fall under the umbrella diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder. It is becoming more common of late for a distinction to be made between Psychopathy and Sociopathy, and the most commonly agreed upon distinction is that Psychopathy is caused by physical differences in the sufferers neurology, whereas Sociopathy is a learned behaviour. Or to put it simply, Psychopaths are born, Sociopaths are made.

Due to this distinction, we will use the term Psychopath with regards to God, as this God is claimed to be ‘unchanging’ and therefore cannot develop a condition or disorder.

What Is A Psychopath?

It is important here to note that the media portrayal of a Psychopath is not necessarily accurate. The word conjures up images of Ted Bundy, Hannibal Lecter, John Doe, and many other real and fictional characters that fit this mould. The truth of the matter is very different, and although it would include these people/characters, it is by no means limited to them.

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The NHS describes Antisocial Personality Disorder as follows.

“Antisocial personality disorder is a particularly challenging type of personality disorder, characterised by impulsive, irresponsible and often criminal behaviour.

Someone with antisocial personality disorder will typically be manipulative, deceitful and reckless, and won’t care for other people’s feelings.

Like other types of personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder is on a spectrum, which means it can range in severity from occasional bad behaviour to repeatedly breaking the law and committing serious crimes. Psychopaths are considered to have a severe form of antisocial personality disorder.”

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The diagnostic tool that is usually used for the diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder is called the PCL-R, which stands for the Psychopathy Check List – Revised. This test was devised by a Canadian Psychologist called Robert Hare, and consists of a 20 point checklist. Each of the items on the checklist can be scored as 0, 1, or 2, being not applicable, somewhat applicable, or completely accurate. The necessary score for a diagnosis of ASPD varies to an extent from country to country. In the US, a score of 30 is necessary, but in the UK then a score of 25 is considered to be diagnosable. However a score of 25 is often used as a cut off point for research in both countries. It is very rare for someone to score a full 40 points, and most people that you would meet in your day to day life will score somewhere around 5 to 10. This means that, for a diagnosis, one must score at least 62.5% on the checklist.

The twenty traits assessed by the PCL-R score are:

• Glib and superficial charm
• Grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self
• Need for stimulation
• Pathological lying
• Cunning and manipulativeness
• Lack of remorse or guilt
• Shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)
• Callousness and lack of empathy
• Parasitic lifestyle
• Poor behavioral controls
• Sexual promiscuity
• Early behavior problems
• Lack of realistic long-term goals
• Impulsivity
• Irresponsibility
• Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
• Many short-term marital relationships
• Juvenile delinquency
• Revocation of conditional release
• Criminal versatility

Is God A Psychopath?

In order to judge whether the Abrahamic/Christian God is a psychopath, we need to go through each of the items of the checklist, and score them accordingly. Obviously there are certain items on the list which cannot be applicable to a deity, so in order to score it fairly, we will remove those items, and score the total according to percentage.

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Glib and superficial charm –

This is the ability to ‘turn on the charm’. Being able to come across as charming, smooth, and likeable, but not actually having any depth to those things. There is no evidence that I have found to properly justify this.

Grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self –

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” Genesis 1:27

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:2

Score – 2

Need for stimulation –

The definition for this is to rouse to action or effort, as by encouragement or pressure; spur on; incite:. This being evidenced by prayer.

Score – 2

Pathological lying –

“For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:11

“And if a prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet.” Ezekiel 14:9

“Now, therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.” 1 Kings 22:23

Score – 2

Cunning and manipulativeness –

“Saying, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God and will do what is right in His sight, and will listen to and obey His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord Who heals you.” Exodus 15: 26

Score – 2

Lack of remorse or guilt –

I am yet to find any scripture that shows God feeling any kind of guilt or remorse for his own actions, other than creating humanity “Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Not only is this not remorse in the same sense of the word, as it is self centred, but it also further supports his Callousness and Lack Of Behavioural Control.

Score – 2

Shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness) –

God is claimed to be omnibenevolent, and claimed to be pure Love. However this is contradicted by the existence of evil, eternal punishment, and not answering prayer. This demonstrates that his Love is superficial.

Score – 2

Callousness and lack of empathy –

The multiple cases in the bible that speak of God’s Wrath, of God’s Vengence, and of the lists of who should be punished with death show an extreme lack of empathy.

Score – 2

Parasitic lifestyle –

There are multiple mentions of people sacrificing things for God. But it is not made apparent whether God requires these sacrifices or not. However, he does nothing to stop them.

Score – 1

Poor behavioral controls –

“And in the greatness of Thine excellency Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee; Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.” Exodus 15:7

“and My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” Exodus 22:24

Score – 2

Sexual promiscuity –

Mary appears to be the only case in which one can attribute a sexual act of some kind.

Score – 0

Early behavior problems –

See the entire Old Testament.

Score – 2

Lack of realistic long-term goals –

God created man so that we could worship him and bring him glory, but also gave us Free Will, therefore sabotaging his own goal for our creation.

Score – 1

Impulsivity –

N/A

Impulsive – Acting or done without forethought. This is then not possible for an omniscient being.

Irresponsibility –

“Irresponsible 1:  not answerable to higher authority <an irresponsible dictatorship>

2 :  said or done with no sense of responsibility <irresponsible accusations>

3 :  lacking a sense of responsibility:  unable especially mentally or financially to bear responsibility”

God fits at least one of these definitions.

Score – 1

Failure to accept responsibility for own actions –

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

This is the justification given for the flood. If we are to accept that God is omniscient, and all goes according to his plan, then it is his own actions that allowed for this to happen.

Score – 1

Many short-term marital relationships –

N/A

Juvenile delinquency –

See the entire Old Testament.

Score – 2

Revocation of conditional release –

N/A

Criminal versatility –

Individual Murder, Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, Rape…..

Score – 2

Total 26.

Conclusion.

Out of the list of 20 questions, there were 3 that were not applicable to God, making a possible total score of 34. With a total score of 26, God would be diagnosed as a Psychopath in the UK, and would be classed as a Psychopath for research purposes in both the UK and the US. However, when we look at this as a percentage score, it works out as 76.47%, which is a diagnosable score in any country.

God is a Psychopath.