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Unit 1C Philosophy of Religion
Overview
Freud –
 religion as a collective neurosis
 religion as wish fulfilment and a reaction against helplessness
 religion as a response to the Oedipus complex and repressed
guilt
Jung
 religion as an expression of the collective unconscious;
 the god within
 the theory of archetypes – Shadow, Animus, Anima and the
Self
 the quest for integration / individuation
 Why do these views challenge religious belief?
 How has religion responded to these challenges?
 Has God been explained away by psychology?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of these psychological views?
 What is the relationship between religion and mental health?
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 Religion as a collective neurosis
Freud described religion as a “universal obsessional neurosis”.
He believed that there are links between religion and the
“obsessive actions in sufferers from nervous affections.” For
example, he believed that neurotics perform ritual actions, like
obsessive hand washing, in the same way each time. If the ritual
is broken or is not performed correctly, the neurotic feels an
overwhelming sense of guilt. In the same way, religious people
perform religious rituals; if they are not performed, they too
feel guilty.
“Like the compulsive who constantly returns to wash his or her hands, but never feels
clean, religious people are continually forgiven their sins, but need to return to hear
that forgiveness proclaimed over and over again.” (Mel Thompson)
Freud feels that the neurosis of those with ‘nervous affections’ and those who perform
religious rituals occurs because unpleasant memories have been pushed into the
unconscious mind. These repressed memories still affect the person by making them
perform neurotic actions.
 The Oedipus Complex and Repressed Guilt
Freud believed that the Oedipus Complex is vital in helping one to understand human
psychology and behaviour. He felt that all male babies and children have a secret desire
to sleep with their mothers. They feel a mixture of feelings towards their fathers; on
the one hand, they feel admiration for the father who is powerful and able to fulfil the
wish to sleep with the mother and on the other hand, they feel resentment and jealousy
towards the father who has sexual rights to the mother.
- How does this relate to religion?
Freud feels that the Oedipus complex led to an act in the past, the guilt of which has
been passed on to all human beings. This guilt is repressed and so manifests itself in the
neurotic behaviour of the religious.
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What Happened?
In his famous book, Totem and Taboo, Freud describes the
past act which led to the repressed guilt shared by all
humanity. He draws on the ideas of Charles Darwin, who
suggested that primitive men lived in hordes like apes. These
hordes were ruled over by a powerful father who had many
children and many wives.
The father was jealous of the sons, as he wanted all of the women for himself. He drove
them out of the tribe to prevent them from having sex with any of the women. The sons
felt a mixture of feeling towards the father. They felt admiration for him, as the most
powerful man who could perform the act of sex with the women that they themselves
wanted to sleep with. However, they also felt bitterness, as he was preventing their
sexual desires from being fulfilled. (Oedipus Complex).
The Terrible Act
One day the sons get together and kill the father. They eat his body as they want to
absorb his strength and power. They feel incredibly guilty for the crime they have
committed. They create a totem animal to worship as a father substitute. The animal is
sacrificed each year in the special totem meal which commemorates the original crime
of killing and devouring the father. For Freud, this act is the beginnings of religion.
Freud believed that feelings of extreme guilt cause humans to create idols which can be
prayed to and worshiped to appease guilt. This first stage in the creation of religion is
called animism.
The guilt of the action of killing the father is passed on to all future generations. This
guilt is repressed but is too powerful to stay hidden. Therefore, it shows itself through
the collective neurotic behaviour of the religious.
“Features were thus brought into existence which continued thenceforward to have a
determining influence on the nature of religion. Totemic religion arose from the filial
sense of guilt, in an attempt to allay that feeling and to appease the father by
deferred obedience to him. All later religions are seen to be attempts at solving the
same problem. They vary according to the methods which they adopt; but all have the
same end in view and are reactions to the same great event with which civilization
began and which, since it occurred, has not allowed mankind a moment’s rest.” (Freud)
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 How does the guilt lead to God and Christianity?
After a while, the totem animal is no longer an acceptable father substitute. The dead
father, with his protection and strength, is longed for. He becomes a divine figure and is
transformed into the god of religion. For example, the God of Christianity is deeply
respected, but at Eucharist He is ceremonially killed and eaten. This provides a link with
the killing of the father and, later, the killing of the totem animal. “The Christian
communion … is essentially a fresh elimination of the father, a repetition of the guilty
deed.” (Freud)
The original deed of killing the father is transmitted to future generations through the
collective unconscious. The guilt of this act binds the religious community together. The
guilt is perpetuated through the duplication of the original crime – the Oedipus Complex.
All sons feel the same mixture of emotions towards their fathers as the brothers of
the primordial tribe felt towards their fathers, and thus, the guilt is transmitted. This
repressed guilt needs an outlet and the original father needs to be remembered. These
needs are fulfilled in the collective worship of organised religion.
Religion is therefore an illusion, intended to appease the guilt felt in the collective
unconscious.
 Wish Fulfilment and a Reaction Against Helplessness
Freud argues that the main characteristic of an illusion is that it is “derived from human
wishes.” There is no real proof or evidence for religion and yet sensible men and women
continue to believe. For Freud, this suggests that religion persists because it contains
within it the wishes of those men and women which are so important to them that they
cancel out any doubts they may have about the truth of the religion itself.
Freud feels that there are three things in our lives which make us feel helpless but
which we wish to control:
1. The external forces of nature which threaten to destroy humanity (floods,
earthquakes etc)
“With these forces nature rises up against us, majestic cruel
and inexorable.” (Freud)
Freud believed that humans wish to defend themselves against
the power of nature by creating religious ideas. For example, the
forces of nature might be turned into gods/goddesses who can
be worshipped and controlled.
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Thus, religion can help people to deal with suffering and feelings of helplessness in
their lives. Even death is not to be feared for the religious, who regard it as the start
to a new life where those who have had a good but painful life will be rewarded.
“In the end all good is rewarded and all evil punished, if not actually in this form of
life then in the later existences that begin after death. In this way all the terrors,
the sufferings and the hardships of life are destined to be obliterated.” (Freud)
2. The internal forces of nature – human instincts (incest, cannibalism, murder)
.
Freud felt that every human being faces a conflict between
what society expects from him/her and his/her own human
instincts. For example, it is human instinct, Freud believed, to
have sex with family members, and yet society declares that
this is wrong and labels it as incest. He felt that this leads us
to feel mixed emotions towards society. In one way, we are
glad that things like murder and cannibalism are not present in
our society, but at the same time, we also feel hostile towards
society for preventing us from following our basic human
instincts. This conflict leads to neurosis and feelings of
helplessness
Religion, according to Freud, helps us to deal with this helplessness, as it teaches that
God is watching over us and will make up for our suffering. For example, a human may
feel that they are helpless to prevent their own aggression. However, religion prevents
aggression by introducing ideas of justice and protecting the weak. It encourages
believers to ‘love their enemies’ rather than being aggressive towards them. Religion also
gives humans a conscience which prevents them from acting on their instincts, promising
that controlling the instincts in this way will be rewarded in the afterlife.
“Civilisation … obtains mastery over the individual’s dangerous desire for aggression
by weakening and disarming it and be setting up an agency within him to watch over it,
like a garrison in a conquered city.” (Freud)
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3. The longing for a father figure
Freud felt that childhood was characterised by a
feeling of helplessness. In childhood, one is comforted
by the protection of the father. In adulthood, humans
are still helpless against the forces of nature and the
conflict they face between their instincts and the
expectations of society.
In a response to this helplessness, humans respond by turning to God as a supreme
father figure, seeking the same comfort they felt in their childhood due to the
protection of their own father. For Freud, therefore, believing in a father like God who
will protect us from the evils of nature and our own human instincts and who will
compensate for our earthly suffering in the afterlife, is nothing more than wishful
thinking, an illusion.
“The derivation of religious needs from the infant’s helplessness and longing for the
father aroused by it seems to me incontrovertible … I cannot think of any need in
childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection … the origins of religious
attitude can be traced back in clear outlines as far as the feeling of infantile
helplessness.” (Freud)
Despite believing that religion is a human construct and an
illusion, Freud accepted that religion has performed “great
services for human civilisation” by, for example, preventing
humans from acting on the instinct to murder others.
However, for Freud, this positive is far outweighed by the
negative implications of religious belief.
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Freud argued that a believer could counter his ideas by stating that removing the
illusion of religion and the comfort it brings to many people is cruel. Freud conceded
that if religion brought people nothing but happiness, then this point would be valid.
However, for Freud, religion is purely negative. It does not prevent people from
rebelling against society and religion can be manipulated by people to justify social
injustices. He believed that religion is used to oppress people and stated that humans
have “overrated its necessity for mankind.”
For Freud, the illusion of religion prevents humans from maturing. Humans need, he
argued, to recognise religion for an illusion in order to make social progress. Religion is
holding humanity back and it is only by rejecting religion that humans can progress.
Rather than being satisfied with their easy to bear religious lives, humans should put
their energies into their life on earth so that they can become mature.
Religious Responses
 Freud does not provide any proof against religion. God could exist in reality and he
cannot prove that this is not the case. He simply states that the beliefs of
obsessive neurotics have been found not to have any grounding. Therefore, as we
have no proof of religion, we are justified in stating that religious neurosis has no
foundation either. Thus, religion can be rejected completely according to Freud. He
has no evidence for this, it is simply his opinion.
 Many believers would say that religion does give
them happiness in their lives and that, far from
promoting social injustice, religious groups actively
strive to promote equality in the world. As we will
see later in this booklet, Jung sees religion as
something which is positive and promotes good
mental health.
 Freud does not really understand the religious experience. He himself admits that
he is not capable of relating to those who claim to have had ecstatic and mystical
experiences. Believers feel that these experiences are extremely important and it
could be said that Freud is wrong to dismiss something that he does not understand,
“If Freud had ever experienced anything of the kind himself, he might have been
forced to consider some other interpretation.” (Storr)
 The strengths and weaknesses of Freud’s ideas will be examined later in the
booklet.
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 Religion as an expression of the collective unconscious
The collective unconscious is present in every human being,
regardless of their personal experiences. It is made up of
archetypes which Jung describes as, “identical psychic
structures common to all.”
Jung believed that the collective unconscious is the oldest
part of the human mind. All humans have the same ideas and
images contained within their collective unconscious. These
ideas and images come to humans in dreams and in their
concept of God. For example, Jung found that many people
liken their god to light. Therefore, he concluded that the
relationship between light and religion is part of the collective
unconscious. All humans share a common idea of God as it is
part of the collective unconscious, shared by all humanity.
 Archetypes
“Archetypes are those pre-existent forms or primordial types that have existed
since the remotest times of humanity.” (Michael Palmer)
Jung believes that every human has archetypes which are a priori (gained prior to
experience). Examples of archetypes include, the mother, the hero, etc
In his theory of archetypes, Jung draws heavily on the work of Immanuel Kant.
Kant believed that the mind has a priori categories through which it interprets
the world, such as space and time). Thus, no human being can arrive at knowledge
of a thing ‘in itself’, they can only arrive at an interpretation of a thing through
these a priori categories or filters. Kant called the realm of things ‘in themselves’
the noumenon. Humans cannot access the noumenon, they can only access the
phenomenon, which is filtered though the a priori categories of the mind.
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Things ‘in
themselves’ –not
influenced by the
senses.
Impossible to
know
Phenomenon
Things as we
perceive them
through the a priori
categories of the
mind.
Drawing on Kantian ideas, Jung states that the archetypes which make up the collective
unconscious are “unconscious organisers of ideas.” The fact that all humans have the
same archetypes means that they are likely to form similar ideas about things, like God.
 God as an archetype – the God within
Jung felt that the images and ideas of God which humans have are archetypal. This
means that all human beings are born with a tendency to come up with religious ideas of
God, angels etc. However, Jung does not believe that stating that God is an archetype
has any bearing on arguments for the existence or non-existence of God. He argued that
when commenting on the idea of God as an archetype, “Nothing positive or negative has
thus been asserted about the possible existence of God any more than the
archetype of the hero proves the actual existence of a hero.” We will explore this
in more detail later in the booklet.
For Jung, the five most important archetypes are:
1. Persona;
2. Shadow
3. Anima
4. Animus
5. Self
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1. The Persona
The Persona is what we show to the world – it is a mask.
We hide the parts of our characters which we think
people won’t like and which society does not like and
show off the parts which are pleasing to society. The
advantage of the Persona is that people view us as
predictable and reliable which means that we are likely
to do well in our careers. However, repressing our true
characters can be bad for our mental health. Thus, Jung
believed that the Persona is “a very fruitful source of
neurosis.”
2. The Shadow
The Shadow is made up of the parts of our personalities
which we do not believe are acceptable in society and
therefore are not suitable as part of the Persona. Jung
stated that the Shadow is “Everything that the subject
refuses to acknowledge about himself and yet is always
thrusting itself upon him directly or indirectly – for
instance, inferior traits of character and other
incompatible tendencies.”
Jung’s name for this archetype suggests that he felt that there was something sinister
about it. We try to ignore the Shadow, but it is still part of us and refuses to stay
repressed, often appearing in dreams. If the Shadow were to stay repressed, it would
lead to an imbalance in our personalities and so it must show itself sometimes. The
Shadow can be seen in ‘evil’ people (mother-in-law, ex-wife), in ancient mythologies
(fiend, tempter, Satan) and in fiction (Frankenstein, Mr Hyde, Shakespeare’s Caliban)
As we are ashamed of our shadows, we seek to project it onto others, such as the Devil.
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3. & 4. Anima and Animus
 The Anima is the feminine side of the male;
 The Animus is the masculine side of the female.
Males are keen to include the masculine elements of their
personality in the Persona, but repress their feminine
characteristics. Likewise, women have a feminine Persona and
repress the masculine parts of their personalities. As with the
Shadow, these parts of ourselves can not stay repressed and
so are projected onto other people:
“Just as we usually experience our Shadow through someone else, so we experience our
own attributes of the opposite sex through another person.” (Michael Palmer)
Thus, the women that a man is attracted to will have the characteristics of his Anima;
those he is not attracted to will have characteristics which conflict with his Anima and
the same for women.
Images of the Anima and Animus are all around us:
Anima – Virgin Mary, goddesses of Hinduism, Eve etc
Animus – Wise man, hero etc.
5. The Self
Jung believed that the Self is the most important part of
the psyche. The Self seeks the integration of all of the
parts of our characters. It guides us through life. The Self
can be the part of humans which looks for fulfilment in
religion and art. It can be seen as the ‘God within’, the
mystical part of humans or the soul.
The Self reveals itself in dreams, images and visions. It can
be seen in figures of power (Kings and Queens), supernatural
entities (gods and goddesses), outstanding religious
personalities (Christ, Buddha) and religious symbols such as
Mandalas.
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Jung was impressed by the religious symbol of
the mandala and had a lot to say about them.
He believed that they revealed something
about the Self and its quest for integration.
He described mandalas as a “premonition of a
centre of personality, a kind of central point
within the psyche … this centre … is the self.”
 The Quest for Integration
“Jung calls the process by which the individual integrates the conscious and unconscious
parts of the personality the process of individuation.” (Michael Palmer)
Individuation is a process humans go through to become a separate individual.
“Individuation means becoming an ‘in-dividual’, and in so far as ‘individuality’ embraces
our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one’s own
self. We could therefore translate individuation as ‘coming to self-hood’ or ‘selfrealisation.’” (Jung)
Jung saw this ‘coming to self-realisation’ as a process which all humans go through. Thus,
as a person will age as they go through life, they will also become a unique individual.
However, individuation can be prevented by adverse influences of parents, education
etc.
Individuation is allowing the parts of the unconscious mind to be integrated into the
conscious. Thus, the parts of our personalities which have been repressed and
neglected, like the Shadow, must be embraced. Therefore, for Jung, our lives are split
into two parts:
1. The first part of our lives (up to the age of 35/40) is about constructing a socially
acceptable Persona and repressing parts of our personalities.
2. The second part of our lives (35/40+) is about embracing our selves, asking
spiritual and philosophical questions about life and the purpose of existence.
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Therefore, the process of individuation could be considered a religious process. Jung
believed that the archetype of the Self and the archetype of God cannot easily be
distinguished from one another, “The extraordinary difficulty in this experience [of the
Self] is that the Self can be distinguished only conceptually from what has always been
referred to as ‘God’, but not practically. Both concepts apparently rest on an identical
numinous faction which is a condition of reality.” (Jung)
However, the Self and God are not the same thing and the Self is not there to replace
God, “how could any sane man suppose he could displace God?” (Jung). They are linked
because they are both impossible to describe and understand. Jung felt that the
symbols of God and the Self are both symbols of unity, which can be seen, for example,
in the Mandala. Individuation is about wholeness and totality: these are also the goals of
religion.
Jung believed that religion is a positive phenomenon which
leads to good mental health. This means that his ideas do not
challenge religious belief in the same way as those of Freud.
 Unlike Freud, Jung does not believe that religion is a
negative neurosis.
 Jung felt that religion is positive as it unlocks the
collective unconscious which is therapeutic for the
individual.
 He felt that religion is constantly evolving by helping to develop the personality. It
helps to integrate a person’s conscious and unconscious life and nurtures a person
through the different stages they go through in life. Therefore, Freud is wrong to
label religion as ‘infantile’ – it is an evolving, nurturing processes which is beneficial
to those who believe in it.
 Jung believed that Freud was wrong to reduce religion to the sexual libido. He felt
that in doing this, Freud had misunderstood the function of religion and had failed
to recognise the collective unconscious which is the part of a human that allows
him/her to know something of the meaning of life.
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Freud
As we have seen, Freud believed that religion is nothing but an
illusion. It is a human construct which is created by the mind to
help us to overcome our fears of the natural world and our own
psychological conflicts. To say that it is an illusion, is not to say
that it is necessarily false, although Freud himself believed that
it is false. Freud felt that humans must reject any religious
belief in order to mature. He believed that just as the beliefs of
obsessional neurotics are not based on any fact, so religion, which
does not have any firm proof, should be rejected.
Freud believed that religion results from the actions of the primordial horde. We long
for a father figure and feel guilty for the original crime of killing the father and so
construct God to ease our guilt and to prevent feelings of helplessness. Some would
argue that Freud has proven that ‘God’ is merely a human creation intended to ease our
lives.
 However, Freud does not provide any actual proof against God or religion. He
himself admitted that God could exist objectively even if his ideas are true –
there could be a God who exists even if humans construct a God image to help
them to cope with life.
 Jung argues that it is not the job of Psychology to attempt to explain away God.
Psychologists, he argues, should be concerned with the effects that belief in God
has on a person. Whether or not God exists objectively is not an answerable
question, especially from the viewpoint of Science and Psychology which should be
concerned only with empirical fact.
 John Hick argues that Freud’s work could be seen to be beneficial to religion. He
feels that Freud’s work on the father figure may have uncovered one of the ways
in which God reveals Himself to the human mind.
 A question asking us to assess how far Freud has been successful in explaining
away the existence of God would also require discussion of the strengths and
weaknesses of Freud’s argument, which we will look at later in this booklet.
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Jung
Although Jung states that religious belief is beneficial, he does not
comment on the veracity (truth) of religion or on the existence of
God. He believes that there are two ways of conceiving God. One is
the concept of God ‘in itself’. This is the eternal, timeless and
unknowable God. For Jung, it is not possible to comment on this God
and nor does he wish to. He is interested in the concept of God as He
is represented to us in the images and symbols of religion – in the God
archetype. As a psychologist, Jung is interested in how the idea of
God affects people, but he does not wish to comment on the truth of
religion itself:
“We know that the God image plays a great role in psychology, but we cannot prove
the physical existence of God. As a responsible scientist, I am not going to preach my
personal and subjective convictions which I cannot prove … to me, however, the
question whether God exists at all or not is futile. I am sufficiently convinced of the
effects man has always attributed to a divine being. If I should express belief beyond
that or should assert the existence of God, it would not only be superfluous and
inefficient, but it would show that I am not basing my opinions on facts.” (Jung)
Therefore, unlike Freud, Jung does not assert that God does not exist or that belief in
God should be rejected. He feels that belief in God can have an extremely positive
effect, but he does not feel that this proves or disproves the existence of God. The
idea of God is to be found in the archetypes of the collective unconscious, but God could
(or could not) exist independently of this.
“I make no transcendental statements. I am essentially empirical … I am dealing with
psychic phenomena and not with metaphysical assertions. Within the frame of psychic
events I find the fact of the belief in God. It says: ‘God is’. This is the fact I am
concerned with. I am not concerned with the truth or untruth of God’s existence. I
am concerned with the statement only, and I am interested in the structure and
behaviour …” (Jung)
Therefore, for Jung, religion is a part of human nature which can be studied like any
other part – this does not necessarily undermine religion or God.
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 It is generally agreed that Freud was immensely intelligent. His work greatly
influenced the Western understanding of the mind.
 The idea that people imagined gods to represent the good and bad in their own
lives and personalities was not a new one. It was held by many others in Freud’s
time.
Example One
In The Natural History of Religion, David Hume had argued that humans had
constructed religion in order to help them to deal with the misery of life and the dread
of death.
Example Two
In The Essence of Christianity, Feuerbach states that religion is a childlike condition.
He felt that it is an illusion which comes from feelings of separation from oneself and
the world. These feelings of separation lead to the qualities which we ourselves lack
being projected on to a ‘God’.
“Almost all evidence that Freud presented has been discredited in some way or
another.” (Michael Palmer)
1. The Historical and Anthropological Evidence – Freud’s theory of the horde was
based on the ideas of Darwin. However, they were just ideas. It is now generally
accepted that there was more variety in primitive societies than Freud suggests.
For example, not all tribes had totem animals. This suggests that Freud’s idea that
guilt was handed down from generation to generation is incorrect. Therefore, he is
wrong to suggest that religion is based on this guilt. The crime of the killing the
father probably didn’t happen and if it did, the guilt could not be passed onto
everyone in the way that Freud suggests. This also brings the Oedipus Complex
into doubt.

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2. Malinowski and the Oedipus Complex – Malinowski is a famous Sociologists who
discredits Freud’s Oedipus complex. He argues that the family is not the same in
every society and so the Oedipus Complex cannot be universal. If it is not
universal, then it cannot be the cause of all religion. For example, in Trobriands,
the family is matrilineal and the Father has nothing to do with the upbringing of
the children. Therefore, there is no Oedipus Complex there and their religion
must require a different explanation. Freud’s attack that religion is based on
sexual guilt is thus called into question.
3. Freud uses a narrow selection of evidence – Freud focuses on religions with male
deities such as Judaism and Christianity. He ignores religions with important
female goddesses, such as Hinduism and religions which do not have a deity at all,
such as Buddhism.
4. Freud has a negative bias towards religion – Donald Winnicott argues that religion
in positive, as it helps humans to adapt to their environment by offering comfort
and familiarity. Ana-Maria Rizzuto argues that religion is no more of an illusion
than science and that Freud is wrong to suggest that science has the sole claim to
truth. She accuses Freud of replacing the illusion of religion with the illusion of
science.
“This is worth remembering when assessing Freud’s view of religion. He had dismissed
religion as an illusion before he began his great researches into the human mind. His
results were used to confirm a view which he already held and were not, as is
sometimes supposed, the starting point from which he reached his view of religion.”
(John Macquarrie)
 As Jung provides a theory of religion and psychology which is less damaging to
religion, he has been praised by religious thinkers:
 “[Jung has] rediscovered the religious and the sacred and got rid of an
overwhelming rationalism. (Raymond Hostie – Jesuit theologian)
 “[Jung is] one who knows so much about the depths of the human soul …” (Paul
Tillich – Theologian)
 “[By studying Jung] we can gain an insight into the ways by which men become
aware of God.” (Charles Hanna – Jungian)
 However, “although Jung’s theories are perhaps less sensational than those of Freud,
they have nonetheless been seriously criticised.” (Michael Palmer)
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 Jung states that we can never know whether or not God exists. We can never know if
a religious experience is real or whether it is created by the mind. However, Jung
accepts science which bases conclusions on empirical evidence without worrying about
whether the data is a figment of a person’s imagination. If there is empirical
evidence for a religious experience, why can’t we accept that it is true?
 The Theory of Archetypes - Geza Roheim argues that the theory of archetypes is
unnecessary. As humans share the same experiences, such as dependence on parents,
it is not surprising that they construct similar myths. Also, some religious myths
come from the experiences of a particular community and so it seems unlikely that
they are born out of an idea which is present in all humans. Therefore, it is argued
that Jung is not justified in stating that there is an ‘instinct for God’ just because
people believe in God. Also, many people do not believe in God. Jung himself countered
this argument by stating that atheism itself is a religion. It seems that he will not
allow anything to counter his ideas. If his theory is not open to falsification, some
would argue that it is meaningless.
 Jung’s idea of religious experience – Martin Buber argues that an experience which
takes place in the mind, rather than externally to the individual, is not a religious
experience. Jung has also been criticised for suggesting that any vision is religious.
Perhaps he has failed to understand the uniqueness of a religious experience and the
effect that they have on religious believers.
 Individuation – Is this a religious process? If it is concerned with the Self, is it
really about God? For example, Jung argues that the image of Christ is a symbol of
wholeness to help balance our minds. However, for a religious believer, Christ is so
much more than this. He is an historical person and the Son of God, not just a symbol
of the mind.
 Reductionism – In reducing religion to archetypes and the process of Individuation,
has Jung actually damaged religion? In stating that religion is a subjective
phenomenon, does he suggest that God is not an objective reality? “I think that the
friendliness of Jung presents a far more serious and radical challenge to religion as
we know it than ever did the hostility of Freud.” (Father Victor White)
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 As we have seen, Freud believed that religion is
damaging to mental health. He felt that it is a neurosis
and likened religious behaviour to that of obsessional
neurotics. He believed that religion is an expression of
guilt and inner turmoil and that it would never allow an
individual to be free from feelings of guilt and
helplessness.
 For Freud, religion must be rejected in order for humanity to mature. Thus,
religion is seen as something which holds a person back and prevents them
developing, which is clearly not conducive to good mental health.
 However, religion is beneficial to many people. It helps them to feel happy and
allows them to socialise with other people who share similar views, rather than
being isolated and unhappy. It helps them to deal with difficult situations in life,
such as loss of a loved one, giving them an outlet for their grief through prayer.
Without the support of God and the church, peoples’ mental health might be
adversely affected when facing these challenges of life.
 Jung had a more positive view. He felt that religion helps to maintain good mental
health and that people without a faith are much more likely to suffer from mental
illness. Religion, Jung argued, allows people to feel at one with themselves and to
integrate all aspects of their personalities. Without this integration process
mental health can be adversely affected.
 Religious leaders often visit the mentally ill to offer them support and comfort.
They can help people to come out of depression by offering them someone to talk
to and a religious community where they feel they ‘belong’.
 Many people turn to religion at difficult points in their lives, such as moving away
from home to go to university, after having children, after the break up of a
relationship. Religion helps them to deal with these stages of life rather than
slipping into mental illness.