Philosophy of Religion
Dr Tom Kerns

Philosophy of Religion




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Sigmund Freud's view of religion


Freud believes religion to be a simple instance of infantile neurosis.

Our neuroses are simply strategies we have developed for warding off anxiety. There are many forms of neurosis; an infantile neurosis is simply the kind of neurosis that helps us again feel the security of our infancy and young childhood.

When we were infants (and before that when we were in the womb) all our needs were taken care of. Our mother provided for our needs of food, liquid, comfort, warmth, sleep, etc. We saw our father as an immense being, powerfully able to protect us and to do all things. We knew that he sometimes left us and went out into the great wide world where he apparently did whatever things needed to be done to make the world a good place for us to be in. He brought home food and he was so big he could protect us against anything.

We experienced our father as

But as we began to grow we slowly discovered that our human father was not all powerful, that he was perhaps not even all good in every way, that there were perhaps things he did not know, and that he sometimes cared for other things and people besides us. We discover, in other words, that our parents

These are very disconcerting discoveries for us, according to Freud, and as we grow up we begin to feel some of the great anxiety that accompanies the struggle for existence and the uncertainty of being human in a not-entirely-friendly world. As we grow older and more aware of our weaknesses and inabilities and lack of full understanding of things, our anxiety continues to increase, and we look for ways to alleviate it.

Religion offers a comforting view of the world in which there is a God who bears a perfect resemblance to the father we all once had: one who is all powerful, who is all good, and who loves us infinitely. This fantasy helps alleviate our anxieties, so we buy into it. It takes us back to the comforts and worldview of our infancy and early childhood (which is why Freud refers to religious belief as an infantile neurosis). So we humans develop a religion with a God who

Freud finds it especially interesting that the God of the religion we’ve created bears such a perfect resemblance to the father we all, in infancy, once thought we had. We grew up and discovered that that human father never existed in fact, so we create one who we feel does exist, and who has all the same traits that we want our own father to have had.

The classic traits of any neurosis, according to Freud, include

Freud believes that religious practices and beliefs exemplify all these traits of neuroses, from the ritualistic behaviors seen in religious practices, to the magical thinking (if I pray and act rightly then we will have good weather for our harvest), to the emphasis on guilt and fear, etc

So Freud concludes the following:

A. Religions are human constructions.

B. Religions, like other neuroses, are semi-conscious creations designed to alleviate anxiety

C. They try to re-capture childhood feelings and securities for us, and they urge us to act as children (be obedient, attend to what others tell us, be humble, meek, etc). These are the kinds of virtues that are appropriate for childhood, of course, and to some extent in adulthood, but they are not the strong and noble virtues more appropriate to full adulthood: virtues like strength, courage, autonomy, authenticity, truth telling, etc.

D. Like other neuroses, this one does work, to an extent. Neuroses are semi-successful adaptations that do in fact alleviate anxiety. If they did not, we would not choose to continue them.

E. But, like other neuroses, they succeed only at a cost.

F. The costs include:

G. If Freud is against religion, he is only against it to the same extent and in the same way that he is against neurosis and sickness of any sort: because it is debilitating, because it robs us of our true full human potential, and because we will be more complete and authentic human beings if we face the world as it is rather than from behind the muffling blanket of a neurosis.

This is a too-brief summary of Freud’s view of where religions have come from and why people are so inclined to buy into them.

Freud expresses these ideas in several of his books, including

Here are a few interesting passages from Freud’s writings:

Questions for you to respond to and discuss in the classroom:

  1. How would you summarize, in your own words, what you understand Freud to be saying about religious belief?
  2. Do you buy it? Why or why not?

 


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