Projection Theories of Religious Experience

1. Projection Theories of Religious Experience

2. The Naturalistic Option • Naturalism: The belief that the universe is an entirely natural phenomenon, with no supernatural elements • Naturalists (such as Dawkins) believe that there is a potential scientific explanation for everything • Eg. Consciousness and “the soul” will eventually be explained completely in terms of the operation of the brain (neurons)

3. Philosophical Monism • Dawkins is a philosophical monist • Monists are believers in the philosophical theory of “materialism” • Philosophical Materialists believe that there is only one kind of substance that makes up everything in the universe– matter/energy • Opposed to philosophical dualists (like Rene Descartes) who believe the universe contains matter and mind (as a distinct form of reality)

4. Freud’s “Projection Theory” of Religion • One of the most common anti-theistic arguments • Part of Freud’s defence of naturalism and materialism • Freud (and others in the human sciences) argue that God is not real, but rather a psychological projection of our deep need for a protective authority figure • God is an “illusion”, “neuroses” and “pathology” of the human race

5. Freud • Two Theories • 1st Religion is “wish fulfillment” or a “psychological crutch” the only purpose of which is to provide support, solace and hope • 2nd Religion provides the psychological underpinnings for a sense of guilt that is necessary for people to live together cooperatively

6. Ludwig Feuerbach • 19th Cent. Philosopher who influenced Freud • God is just the personification of our highest human ideals • People are weak, finite, and morally imperfect • God is all-powerful, infinite and morally perfect • Influenced Karl Marx and his idea of religion as “the opiate of the people”

7. Emile Durkheim • Early 20th Century Sociologist • Argued that religion simply provides the “moral glue” by which societies are held together • It is the repository of all the moral norms of a society, expressed in a form (myth) that gives these expectations compelling force in the minds of believers

8. Dawkins • Interested in research into human tendency to project “intentional” characteristics onto the world • Other human beings our are worst enemies, so evolution created in us responses that “look” for possible human/intention-based threats in the world • Dawkin’s suggests that belief in the “God hypothesis” is just a result of this kind of psychological tendency (“Misfiring”) of our brains as they have been structured by evolution—it’s like a moth’s instinct to navigate by starlight, which often results in its death on lights and flames used by us today • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbKw0_v2clo

9. Objections to Freud • Idea that moral guilt is based in ancient remorse for an absent “father figure” overlooks the many religions that focus on female deities • Can it explain origins of female guilt? • What about ancient religions that believed in “a dismal, depleted, ghostly half-life in the darkness beneath the earth?”—Hick

10. Objections to Durkheim • What about religions that challenge and condemn their societies? • Jewish prophets? • Christian resistance to Rome? • Mohammed’s complete restructuring of Arabian society? • Buddhism’s challenge to Hinduism in India? • Hindu ascetics who reject society?

11. Objection to Feuerbach • What about non-theistic religions, like Theravada Buddhism or Taoism? • Such religions lack a deity with any personal characteristics

12. John Hick • Religious Studies Scholar who challenged Freud’s theories starting in the 1980s • Questioned whether Freud’s theories of religion were based in science (rather than being purely philosophical speculations) • Pointed out an apparent logical flaw in Freud’s reasoning

13. Logical Flaw in Freud’s Argument? • Logically speaking how we come to out beliefs says nothing about the truth of those belief as such • “The mere fact that a religious message comes as good news does not entail that it is not true: this must be established on other grounds”—Hick • Even if it were true that all human religious beliefs could be explained by psycho-social factors, would this really show that the claim “God exists” is false?