Christianity and the Views of Sigmund Freud

¶ … Christianity and the views of Sigmund Freud and William James

This paper discusses the concept of a Creator in Christianity and also focuses on the views held by Sigmund Freud and William James on this subject. While Christianity believes firmly in the existence of Creator, Freud maintains that this concept has originated from man's deep-rooted neurosis. James on the other hand felt that religious beliefs had some biological and psychological connections and therefore it is important for man to devise his own concept of a Creator rather than believing on the one that he has inherited from his ancestors.

CONCEPT OF A CREATOR

Most religions in the world support the concept of a Universal Creator, the one being who has single-handedly created the entire Universe and is considered to be a benevolent merciful soul. While in some polytheist religions, the concept of Creator may differ slightly, but in all three primary religions of the world, the Creator is one powerful being who has no partners and neither does he require any helpers to assist him in his numerous tasks. While Christianity does have the concept of trinity, which may, to some people, appear to be in conflict with the concept of a monotheistic idea of Creator but it is important to understand Christianity doesn't view God as more than one soul but feels that Jesus is one of His manifestations. This concept is exclusive to Christianity because only followers of this religion consider Jesus to a manifestation of God. But Creator nonetheless is still that one Universal soul that was there when man had not entered the world, and that shall remain intact even after the world would come to end. The Creator is thus an important being that we all look up to for comfort and help believing that only He can help us out of our miseries and sorrows and only He can relieve us of our pains.

Creator thus occupies an essential place in our lives and most of us do need Him from time to time whether we admit it openly or not. But it is important to understand that not every person believes in the concept of a Creator, there are some who believe on the scientific evolution of the world and thus maintain that world came into being without any significant intervention from any soul. This notion may appear to be too vague and morally-incorrect to some of us but we must mention here that some very well-known people did not believe in the existence of God, rather they maintained that Creator was just an anecdotal concept that man had derived from his desire to have a protective shield around him.

Sigmund Freud was one such man who totally dismissed religious beliefs because in his research on psychology, he did not find any evidence to support the existence of Creator. Therefore in his view Creator was nothing more than a manifestation of man's childhood neurosis. He felt that since as children, we all need to believe in the concept of loving caring soul, that is why we start believing in Creator but as we grow older, the roots of this idea weaken and some of us start doubting religious beliefs.

In his book, "The Future of an Illusion," (1927) Freud wrote, "Religious ideas are illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest and most urgent wishes of mankind. The secret of their strength lies in the strength of those wishes."

In other words, he connected the concept of God to wish fulfillment and felt that man believes what he wants to believe and that is why he has conceived religion and has developed a being that he terms as the Creator. Freud's ideas were largely based on his research in the field of psychology and felt that since we all encounter a deep sense of insecurity as children, we are told to believe in God, a loving father figure who would take care of us when the need arises.

When a man has once brought himself to accept uncritically all the absurdities that religious doctrines put before him and even to overlook the contradictions between them, we need not be greatly surprised at the weakness of his intellect...Religious ideas have sprung from the same need as all the other achievements of culture: from the necessity for defending itself against the crushing supremacy of nature."

While Freud was mainly concerned with psychological theory of religion and thus dismissed religious dogmas completely, William James has a rather interesting theory on the subject. Though he felt that a Creator exits, he was of the view that Creator is not what we perceive him to be. In other words, he was of the view that it was important for man to understand for himself what God really is and instead of sticking with Biblical images of Him, it was better for man to seek out the truth on his own. William James's theory on religion is a rather vague one because it connects religion with both psychology and biology. To him, a Creator would then be a being that man could look up to in times of need and also maintained that concept of Creator could vary from person to person. James felt that religion could only be believed in if man devises his own concept of the Creator, instead of trusting the notion that has been handed down to him by his forefathers.