A2 Religious Studies

Philosophy of Religion

Nod ac Amcan

​

• To reinforce your understanding of Sigmund Freud's view of the religious mind

​

​

Sigmund Freud and the religious mind

• Sigmund Freud (1858-1939) was a famous Austrian psychologist, considered one of the founders of Psychology.
• He sought answers to the question 'why do human beings feel the need to be religious?'
• From a Jewish family but an atheist himself

Who was Sigmund Freud?

Religious mind

An Illusion) NOT reality

Infantile/childish ideas

Wishlist

Obsessional Neurosis

Result of the Oedipus Complex

​

​

�

​

​

Summary of his ideas on religion

Reductive – the human mind has created God

Religion/God is a projection of fears/guilt of taboo memories in the Id

Scientific evidence (???)

– Primal Horde Theory

Historical Evidence (???)

– Totem and Taboo

Freud’s books on religion

TOTEM AND TABOO (1913)

​

THE FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION (1927)

​

CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS (1930)

​

MOSES AND MONOTHEISM (1939)

Further reading…

The Human Mind (Psyche)

Background - The ID, yr EGO and SUPEREGO

These are the 3 parts of the mind/personality according to Freud

Id (the unconscious mind) Ego Superego

​

​

The ID - This is the unconscious part of the mind, this is where there are desires and aspirations that drive people e.g. the desire for pleasure and sexual desire (Libido). This is a part that other people don't see. Ideas/intuitions that society would not accept. THE RELIGIOUS MIND IS DERIVED FROM THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND

The EGO - This is the conscious part of the mind, it deals with reality; being aware of our physical form. It is the ego that creates our personality, this is what people in society see in the outside world. The ego tries to keep the Id under control. 

​

“the main aim of id is pleasure and the main aim of the ego is safety” (Michael Palmer)

The SUPEREGO - it is linked to an individual's attitude towards their parents and society/culture. The superego is the opposite of the id. While the id is animalistic, instinctive and selfish (giving pleasure to an individual), the superego tries to behave perfectly - a strong conscience about everything - trying to appear perfect/good. The values and norms of behaviour ​reflected from parents, culture and education.

The id, ego and superego fight against each other and this can cause psychological confusion (disorder). The ego tries to prevent the id from appearing in the outside world. The superego tries to work with the id and the ego by trying to set standards that have been taught by parents and society. 

“Thus the ego has to satisfy the instinctual demands of the id and the moral dictates of the super-ego” - Michael Palmer

Freud grew up in a Jewish family, but he himself was a non-believer (atheist).

He rejected the idea of ​​god completely. For Freud, religion only existed in the mind. This is what is called Reductive. Religion is not an external reality. He saw that religion was an "illusion", a product of the mind alone. God is not an external reality.

• Reductive – religion is a product of the human mind. It causes people to perform meaningless religious rituals, which have no basis in reality (they are pointless).

Religion as an illusion

Religious believers are childish/infantile/immature!!

When growing up, people mature and become more independent. Some people cannot deal with this. They cannot deal with the reality of life.

​

They are unable to deal with a cruel life full of suffering. They cannot turn to their parents BUT they need something to comfort them and help them in life

​

​

What are the esponsibilities of parents?

For Freud, religion meets the psychological needs of human beings in 2 ways

​

a) A way of dealing with natural threats in the world by creating a God who rules over the natural world. The threat of the force of nature is so powerful and terrifying - we must create a powerful God to control it.

b) A way of controlling human instinct/lust - especially sexual instinct (libido) and aggressive instinct to kill (aggressive). Religion has a set of rules that govern these instincts e.g.

Think

So, what do these people do??????!!!!

SUPER PARENT!!!!

• Create a new parent that is more powerful than our original parent

​

​

GOD!!!

God = The New Parent

“Our FATHER in heaven ……!!!!!”

THINK!

What beliefs about God are similar to the responsibilities of a parent?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Comfort

Look after

Teach right from wrong

Punish

Help

Security

Protect

Wish list

Safety Blanket

Religious Belief is Childish

Religion is a result of the Oceanic Feeling�

A strong mystical feeling that religious people get from uniting with God. The result of the oceanic feeling was religion. This was a common feeling that everyone feels, according to Freud ..

Because of our fears, people want to feel safe. Every individual remembers security when in their mother's womb - they are desperate for that security.

People therefore get a feeling of merging with a powerful "being" to keep them safe

Background – Development of the human psyche (mind) according to Freud

The 5 stages in personality development according to Freud and they relate to how libido (sexual desire) develops,

1. Oral Stage - 0-18 months: the mouth is the main source of pleasure for the child. The child is looking for safety e.developed,loped,at, suck thumb. The "id" is strongly present, it fulfills a selfish desire (urge)..

​

​

2.Anal Stage - 2 to 4 years. The anus is the main source of pleasure. The baby learns control over his body and his own needs. This is when a baby understands that it cannot have its desires (urges) and the ego begins to develop. Think – selfish desires are starting to be curbed e.g. "potty training"

3. Phallic Stage (phallic) 4 to 7 years old. Considering sex as “immature”. The young boy longs for a sexual relationship with his mother, but this is not possible because of the father. The boy fears that the father will castrate him and therefore wishes to kill the father. This idea is too

painful, and so the boy identifies with the father. By doing this the boy internalizes the father's values ​​and the UWCHEGO (conscience) develops. This is the period most likely to be most concerned with religion. Curbing taboo/unacceptable practices by society.

4. Latent Stage - 8 to 12 years. There is little development for a person's personality in this period says Freud

5. Genital Stage - 12 to 18 years. This is where sexual desire is developed and sexual relationships are worked out. An individual will consider the sexual instinct with people of the same age. Considering sex as “mature”

By the age of 18 a person has developed his full personality according to Freud.

Why is religion seen as a neurosis?

​

REGRESSION - where the mind goes back to a childish stage (back to one of the 5 stages of personality development) Psychological memory from the past.

REPRESSION - stopping any anti-social unconscious (Id) thoughts/memories from manifesting themselves in our personality in the outside society. (The “blocking” of these thoughts causes neurosis according to Freud)

PROJECTION - Any unpleasant/social memory that is in the unconscious mind is displayed in the outside world through action; do or say something. Religion is an outgrowth of sexual desires, guilt and fears in the unconscious mind. According to Freud, religion is an ejection of the contents of the Id. Religious people reject this and try to disprove that religion is an emission.

Repression

Thought repression is a process where the mind stops a memory/feeling of any unpleasant event in the past from passing from the unconscious mind to the conscious mind. “Block” traumatic memories/bad thoughts! Thought suppression protects the conscious mind from having to deal with the events/emotions in the past. Suspension is like a kind of "bouncer" at the door of the conscious mind that keeps unpleasant thoughts from the past away!

Repression = cause of obsessional neurosis

The Oedipus Complex

• This is the basis of Freud's theory on religion - THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX, which is named after the Greek legend about the king Oedipus who killed his father and married his mother. EVERYONE suffers from this according to Freud.

​

• Research Work –
• Read the Greek Mythology of Oedipus.

Religion as Obsessive Neurosis

Freud saw similarities between his patients suffering from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and religious people

​

Organizing cushions in a particular manner/pattern

Touching objects a certain amount of times

Checking things several times

Obsessive hygiene/washing

Superstitions

List some Psychological Obsessive acts or habits

Can you think of religious practices that could be seen ar “obsessive”?

Washing/cleansing before prayer

Must go on Hajj once in a lifetime

Fasting during Ramadan

Obligation to pray a certain amount of times and certain ways

Giving things up for Lent

Renouncing items

Celibacy

Wearing specific clothing/garments e.g. 5k’s

Rhaid i gig fod wedi cael ei ladd mewn ffordd arbennig

Not mixing milk and meat products!

The Begininng of Religion

- Totem and Taboo

Historical Evidence of the Oedipus Complex?

Historical Evidence – The Beginning of Religion -�Totem and Taboo�

• One of Freud's books about religion is TOTEM AND TABOO. A collection of 4 essays focused on Freud's study on primitive society. The work is called "some points of agreement between the mental life of savages and neurotics". Freud clearly sees similarities between primitive people and some of his patients who suffered mentally. Freud studied how primitive society worked before more sophisticated societies had developed.
• EVALUATION - When Totem and Taboo was written, there was little understanding of primitive societies, and therefore, what Freud says has no concrete basis or evidence.
• Freud sees how religion appears in the life pattern of early tribes. According to Freud, primitive people had a special totem (pole) in the shape of an animal and they would have a deep respect and fear of this symbol/totem. The members of the tribe would share the totem and define their own social rules according to the requirements of the totem. (Doing what the Totem wanted them to do!). They would perform rituals around the totem ("religious" practices).

​

• Freud discovered 2 customs related to the totem:-

​

• 1. The animal that was on top of the totem should not be hunted, killed or eaten
• 2. An annual feast would be held which would include rituals where the animal on top of the totem would be killed and eaten in the hope of uniting/internalizing with the animal

Where did the Totem come from?

​

• Freud's theory was that the tribes were organized by a patriarch (ruled by one man). The PATRIARCH (male leader), would have power over everyone and everything, sexual rules and taboo subjects (sometois forbidden or disapproved by the tribe). Each tribe would need to have strict rules about gender to ensure a correct relationship between members of the tribe. These rules are the basis of our culture today according to Freud.
• The patriarch would forbid the young men from having sex with the women in their own tribe and would keep all the women for himself.
• The young men would come together because of their sexual desire and rebel and kill the patriarch in order to fullfill their sexual desires within the tribe.
• Afterwards, they would feel guilty for killing the patriarch and need something to replace the patriarch. They would form a totem out of wood to take his place and give it “divine"/"supernatural" powers. They would choose an animal on top of the totem to represent the Patriarch. They would forbid hunting the animal in order to respect it. But, at one time of the year, they would kill the animal and eat it in a feast to try to become one with the animal/patriarch

THINK - Can you see a similar Christian practice?

Here Freud sees a similarity/connection with the story/Oedipus Complex, which says that all men desire (to desire) their mother and aspire to kill their father (A bit of a taboo!!!). Freud believed that the behavior of the primitive tribes displayed the Oedipus Complex

Primal Horde Theory

- Charles Darwin

WHERE DID FREUD GET THE IDEA ON THE EARLY PRIMITIVE TRIBES?

Scientific Evidence of the Oedipus Complex?

Freud recreates/adapts Charles Darwin's “ Primal Horde Theory. According to Freud, primitive tribes would reflect the way of life of the apes.

The group was controlled by one ape /Alpha male. The main ape would send all young apes out of the group to find a partner in order to prevent further burns. The chief ape ("father") would be highly respected, but the "sons" of the group would be jealous of him and hate him; they would want to kill him! The "sons" would come together and kill the chief ape ("father") in order to gain power and follow their sexual desires. Having killed the chief ape (“father”) they would feel GUILT. They would spread out to other ape groups.

FREUD SAYS THIS IS LIKE HOW THE EARLY TRIBES LIVED AND SHOWS THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX!

Religious mind

An Illusion) NOT reality

Infantile/childish ideas

Wishlist

Obsessional Neurosis

Result of the Oedipus Complex

​

​

�

​

​

Do I understand?

Reductive – the human mind has created God

Religion/God is a projection of fears/guilt of taboo memories in the Id

Scientific evidence (???)

– Primal Horde Theory

Historical Evidence (???)

– Totem and Taboo

2. Explain Freud’s view of religious belief. [AO1 30]. 2018

 Freud recognised the significance of religion within the sphere of human activity and spent much of his life and work reflecting on the relationship between religious belief and human behaviour. His work largely suggests that religion is unhelpful in allowing humans to develop a healthy psychological maturity, considering it to be an ‘infantile’ pursuit that prevented human beings from fulfilling their potential. Freud considered religion as an illusion and/or a neurosis. He believed that it was a ‘universal obsessional ritual’ that had the function of allowing its followers to avoid imaginary misfortunes (Hell, damnation, etc.) and to indulge in practices that promoted both aggressive and egoistic desires.  Freud used the Oedipus myth to reflect on the complex relationships between parents and children and how this caused the child’s psyche to both react and develop. Issues around love, hate, jealousy, rivalry and dependence were recognised as having their root in these relationships and could result in intense emotional turmoil within the individual. A key function of religion, from Freud’s perspective, was to give these relationships a narrative that allowed the experience to become a social rather than individualised one. Hence the promotion of father figures as ‘omnipotent’ in the God figure and the idea of mothers as ‘virginal’ – both ideas firmly established within the Christian narrative. This gave a social acceptability to such considerations that would be considered inappropriate if promoted by the individual without such a context.  Freud promoted the idea of a collective human ‘memory’ in his primal horde theory. This idea (which he based around the work of Darwin) suggested that human ancestors, killed an alpha-male within the horde, out of jealousy for this male who had had exclusive sexual access to the females of the horde due to their superior strength and intellect. This caused a severe reaction in guilt as this alpha-male had also been highly respected and feared amongst the horde. The guilt then becomes focussed on a totem that in turn becomes the object of devotion and worship and the murdered alpha-male takes on the mantle of a god. This also explained Freud’s theory that religion was a way of repressing traumas.

 Religion was also seen by Freud to provide wish-fulfilment and was a reaction against helplessness; religion provided a framework by which those who felt disenfranchised by their experiences in life could make sense of the world through their religious belief and feel empowered by adhering to its rituals and mythologies.

https://carlam.cymru/cy/