PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH: SACRAMENT OF PENANCE IN PERSPECTIVE

In defense of the field of psychology, Gary Collins noted the reflections of many Christian psychologists. They understand “there is much that is wrong about psychology—but there is also much that is sensitive, helpful, valid, and good. The best psychologists carefully sift the conclusions and evidence, reject that which is invalid and make use of the rest.” (Passantino & Passantino, 2009, p. 16).

The sole purpose of this paper is to investigate and uncover the reasons as to why Sigmund Freud refused to believe in religion. Sigmund Freud was an unbelievable psychologist and philosopher. He was known for discovering many great ideas such us psychoanalysis and for truly understanding human development as well as atypical development. Freud was also known for his strong rejection of religion. Freud believed religion was an illusion and thought that those who followed religion were weak and part of the ignorant society. Freud lost his faith in religion growing up. He had many difficulties in his childhood. Freud didn’t have a great relationship with his parents and surely enough lost all his loved ones at a very young age. Freud struggled with the idea of protection. He lost faith in God because he was taught that God was supposed to protect and save you from hardship but unfortunately for Freud, he didn’t experience that. Thus, this paper will unveil the reasons for Freud’s rejection of religion.

Sigmund Freud’s theory religion started within the individual and later spread to the society. Freud at one point was considered to be one of the fathers of

In his book Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud utilizes his method of psychoanalysis on religion by comparing the relationship between human and religion to that of a child and his parents. Freud effectively demonstrates that religion is a product of the human mind. After exposing religion as a an illusion, Freud concludes that humanity will be better off when it has forgone religion. This paper will argue that Freud's assertion that religion is an illusion is correct because of it's blatantly traceable evolution through the history of the human civilization and psyche.

By studying the ideas of other psychologists and philosophers to support his own ideas, Freud was able to take the parts he agreed with and disprove the parts he did not agree with. He explores the ideas of Aristotle, Hildebrandt and Strumpell to name just a few. He agreed strongly with Aristotle’s belief that dreams are not divine in

Ancient philosopher Plato’s affiliation with religion is evident across multiple dialogues and referenced during his discussion of both metaphysical and ontological questions. Plato did not believe in one singular god, but many [2]. In his work Timaeus, he proposed that the universe

Slater gathers strength from Freud’s thought while concluding her article that, “Freud once defined repression quite benignly as a refocusing of attention away from unpleasant ideas”.

Religion is a species-specific human universal phenomenon, complex, full of paradoxes, and found in all cultures. Social scientists and anthropologists since the late 17th century have attempted to rationally answer questions about religion, and while we can't evaluate the veracity of religion’s claims, we can attempt to understand its functions.

This paper explores the different views of religion between three sociologist writers, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. It discusses a few different religions and the percent of Indiana that is religious. It will go into examples about how religion has developed over time and how Christians all have one big thing in common. Throughout the paper, it will explain how Christians are trying to share the word of God and make their community a better place.

Furthermore, we can explore how different societies influence religion and utilize it to propagate their agendas while justifying their actions to still fit the core tenants of their religion.

Western scholars of religion have attempted to define the term religion for a long time. Often times, these definitions are too narrow and are based on the individual’s own background and

Religion is universal. Although people may have different ideologies and practices, everyone believes in something, whether they deem it their religion or not. In this way, religion is a powerful connection between all of humanity; thus, it is important to understand the people behind religion and how their unique characteristics correlates with and influences religion—whether that be their social class, ethnicity, gender, or politics. However, ethnicity and gender, along with the closely linked topics of sexuality and politics, are the most significant concepts to understand religion in our modern world.

Freud in his writing suggests that religion is an “illusion.” Not your typical deception of something, rather misapprehension of religion. Additionally, Freud provides brand new eyes to look at religion and its construct of civilization. He further provides evidence of his own, as well as suggesting a psychoanalytical approach to religion.

An example of this is in his other book, Moses and Monotheism, Freud tries to apply his theory to Judaism and Christianity. According to Freud, Moses was an Egyptian who forced his religion upon the Jews. The Jews, in a manic state, kill Moses on the mountain just outside of the Promised Land. This created a large-scale sense of guilt, which created the need for salvation expressed by these religions: ‘Remorse for the murder of Moses provided the stimulus for the wishful fantasy of the Messiah, who was to return and lead his people to redemption.’ Freud also goes on to say in The Future of an Illusion that ‘religion is the collective neurosis of humanity’. He notes that there are similarities to obsessive compulsions in religion. For example, prayers/worship is to be performed exactly, repeated, anxiety if omitted and a sense of relief once ritualised. The sense of guilt if these criteria are not met is parallel to the guilt held from killing the dominant male as primal hordes. Freud claims that religion protects us from developing individual neuroses which may not be accepted by society. Because religion is a part of our culture and therefore accepted, it is not seen as a defect. There is a need for protection from a father figure (infantilism), and in this respect Freud rebrands Feuerbach’s theories of ‘projection’ of the perfect being to ‘wish-fulfilment’, and of desired infantile protection. Freud says that the female counterpart to this

A religion can be seen as a unified system of beliefs and practices which are relative to sacred things and beliefs (Giddens 1972, p.224). It can shape ones thoughts and feelings and gives people a sense of hope and something to believe in. All three main sociologist writers Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim offer different perspectives on religion and how important it is to society. Some of the theorists chose to have a positive view whilst others argue the unimportance of religion. This essay attempts to discover which theorist has the most accurate perspective of religion in modern times. This is done by firstly explaining the basic ideas regarding to religion put forward by Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Then both Marx's and