The Challenges of Psychology
to Religious Belief
Is it all in the mind?
Introduction
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Most arguments for God’s existence
assume that God is an objective
reality
Psychologist argue that God is
nothing more than a construct of
the mind
Similarly Sociologists argue that
God is a construct of society
Freud
Believed religion to be an illusion
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Based on wish fulfilment
Believed that given particular
circumstances
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The human mind creates beliefs and images
to satisfy our most basic longings and
desires brought on by:
a.
Inner psychological conflict
b.
Stress stemming from the structure of
society
c.
Fear of the dangers of the natural world
Inner psychological conflict
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Freud claimed
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Religion is a form of neurotic illness
It stems from the unconscious mind
It results from incompletely repressed
traumatic memories
The trauma is usually sexual in nature
Therefore religion is an illusion
resulting from sexual difficulties
Inner psychological conflict
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Freud worked with patients suffering from
hysteria
Used hypnosis and studied dreams
Saw similarities between obsession of the
hysterical and obsession of the religious
Concluded that religion must be a form of
neurotic behaviour caused by trauma
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Invariably sexual in nature
Inner psychological conflict
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Libido = body’s most basic urge
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Therefore this is most probable cause of
psychological problems
Oedipus (pro. edipus) complex
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The desire to possess the mother and
the ambivalence towards the father
Suckling child has sole attention of
mother
As libido is transferred to sexual organ
there is a rival in form of father
Inner psychological conflict
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For Freud to be right
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Oedipus Complex must be a universal sexual trauma
Buried trauma must be able to reappear in form of
religion
Oedipus Complex
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Used work of C Darwin to show social unit as primal horde
Hordes = groups of people with a dominant male who has
total authority and claim on all females
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There is ambivalence towards this male – hatred and
veneration
Hordes resent the dominant male and eventually kill him
Therefore Oedipus Complex affected all society historically
Inner psychological conflict
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Oedipus complex ultimately resulted in
guilt
Freud believed we transferred that guilt
into objects
First stage through animism
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We create idols or totems – that is investing
stones trees ort animals with spirits
Our guilt is transfer to that object
Through prayer and sacrifice the idol is able to
make amends
Whilst the totem is venerated, once a year the
animal is killed showing the continual
ambivalence
Inner psychological conflict
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Second stage through religion
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Totem becomes unsatisfactory as veneration
grows
Father figure becomes divine
In Christianity we see:
 Worship of God the father
 Ceremonial killing and eating through
communion
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(Note: Catholics believe that the bread actually
becomes the body of Christ and the wine actually
becomes the blood of Christ, non-Catholics tend
to see the bread and wine as symbols)
Stress stemming from the structure of
society
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Nature of society conflicts with our basic
desires
Society depends on a group having the
power to govern
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Such government will often conflict with our
own desires
Religion gives reason to submit to those
in authority making society bearable
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Explains our suffering in terms of need to obey
an omnipotent God
Fear of the dangers of the natural world
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We are confronted with many natural
forces including death
We have no power over them
We live in panic and sense of helplessness
Religion provides a way of control
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Everything that happens is under control of a
superior being that works for our ultimate
good
There is a father figure that protects
Freud’s conclusions
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Freud accepts there is no prove against
existence of God
But he shows that beliefs formed by basic
psychological needs are false (for the
neurotics at least)
He rejects all things religious
He accepts that religion has brought
benefits but also believes it brings
problems
Freud would replace religion with scietific
understanding
Critique of Freud
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Michael Palmer – “almost all evidence that
Freud presents has been discredited”
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Bronislaw Malinowski – showed that
Oedipus Complex is not universal
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Theory of Horde based on Darwin’s speculation
which is no longer accepted
In Trobriand society male is a weak nurse
In animal world role of father and mother is one
of support – no opposition
Argue that complex is brought about by strict
rules of religion rather than being the cause of
them
Frued use narrow selection of evidence
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Referred to religions based on male deities
Some religions are based on female deities
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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At first worked closely with Freud
Eventually dismissed Freud’s view that
religion is a neurotic illness
Jung concluded
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Religion is natural stemming from archetype in
unconscious mind
It harmonises the psyche
It is a beneficial phenomenon
Removal of religion would lead to psychological
problems
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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Two features of Jung’s work are
essential to understanding his ideas
His concept of neuroses and the
libido
His concept of the mind
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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His concept of neuroses and the libido
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Worked with schizophrenics
Saw no sexual component in their neuroses
Did not see sucking of baby as a sexual act
Did not see religion as connected to a sexual
trauma
Saw libido as far more complicated than sexual
drive
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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His concept of the mind
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Noted similarity of people’s dreams
Often ideas related to light
Concluded that we each have
A personal unconscious and
 a collective unconscious
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Oldest part of mind
Contains range of ideas and images
We are born with tendency to conceive
primordial images
God is a shared primordial image
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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Archetypes
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Not ‘a question of inherited ideas, but
a functional disposition to produce the
same, or very similar, ideas.’ (Jung,
Symbols of Transformation, 1977)
Two archetypes are:
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Persona
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A front to cover our true nature from society
Shadow
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The darker side of our character
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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God is an archetype
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We are born with tendency to generate
religious images
Actual images come from experience
 Disposition to generate them is innate
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Religious belief is still valid
Religious experience is valid
Still comes from an invisible source
 Is still ineffable
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Jung’s Theory of Religion
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Does God exist?
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‘Nothing positive or negative has thus been
asserted about the possible existence of any
God.’
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C. G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, 1944
God and religion does exist as a psychic reality
 To those who experience the effects, God is
real
Jung believes religion maintains the balance of
the mind and so prevents neuroses through
individuation
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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Individuation
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Libido = a flow of psychic energy
All features of personality need to be in
balance to maintain health
Therefore has to be a balance between
conscious and the unconscious
Mental disorder is a failure to maintain this
balance
First part of live is coming to terms with outer
environment
Second part is coming to terms with one’s
own personality
Jung’s Theory of Religion
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Individuation and Religion
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Individuation is governed by the self
archetype
 Any process governed by archetype can be
termed religious
 Therefore individuation is a religious process
Individuation generates images of wholeness
 One such image is God
 Therefore image of God archetype is the same
as the self archetype
It follows that religion is necessary to retain
balance and health
Critique of Jung
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Critique centres on
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Methodology
The theory of archetypes
The concept of religious experience
The role of religion within individuation
Critique of Jung
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Methodology
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Jung argues that we cannot know if a religious
experience is real or a creation of the mind
Scientists however look for empirical evidence
The theory of archetypes
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Archetypes not needed
Geza Roheim argues that we all share similar
experiences which will produce the similar
ideas
Some religions seem to respond to society
rather than the other way round
Some people do not believe in God – Jung
argues that atheism is a form of religion
Critique of Jung
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The concept of religious experience
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Martin Buber does not accept that an experience
stemming from the mind alone can be termed
religious
Jung argued that any archetypal image can be
termed religious
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But this would mean that evil, satanic images are
as religious as a vision of God
The role of religion within individuation
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If individuation is governed by the self-archetype it
can have nothing to do with God
For Jung image of Christ is a symbol of wholeness
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But Christians claim Christ is more than a symbol,
he is the Son of God
Putting it altogether
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a)
b)
Write bullet points that show how
you would go about answering the
following exam question:
Give an account of psychological
explanations of religious belief (33)
‘It is wrong to think of God as an
invention of the human mind.’ Discuss
(17)