According to Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), religion is something that people must overcome. The Viennese psychologist criticizes religion. He describes religion as an illusion and a compulsive neurosis. In his theory about religion he is closely aligned with the natural scientific theories of his time. The law of conservation of energy and Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution were important building blocks for him to base his theory on. Freud’s theories about the origins of religion and religion are nothing more than theories. There is no scientific evidence that his ideas are based on truth. Yet the insights Freud provided are still in circulation to this day.
Freud and natural scientific developments
Freud (1856-1939) was strongly influenced by the scientific developments of his time. In his early years he strove to objectively describe all psychological processes in terms of physical and chemical processes. He believed in cause and effect: all behavior, no matter how mundane or random, has a cause that lies in the life history of the individual’s early experiences. This is also called psychological determinism.
The law of conservation of energy
The theory of the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, a thermodynamic principle about the conservation of energy, has become a central idea in Freud’s psychology. “Energy cannot decay,” Helmholtz stated. From there, Freud came to the insight that psychic energy does not disappear. For example, if someone becomes very angry, the energy of anger does not simply disappear. This energy can find a way out through aggressiveness, or be converted into activism. If the energy of anger is swallowed and has no outlet, it will consume the person. There is then a risk that someone will become depressed, for example.
Religion and religion as illusion
According to Freud, religion and faith are illusions. He describes religion as an obsessive-compulsive disorder that arises from the desire for the world to be different and safer. The purpose of this obsessive-compulsive disorder is to reduce the tension that people experience in life. If a person can’t get what he wants, he will imagine something instead. Because someone cannot distinguish reality from fantasy, tensions are released through representations. So if someone is afraid of being alone, believing that God is always with them can help that person experience less fear. The representation, the illusion ‘God is with me’ reduces the tension that causes fear of being alone.
Religion and faith are, according to Freud, offered to the members of society as an instant solution to the confrontation with threats that a person may experience in his life. Although religion has made a positive contribution to society in some respects (for example the commandment: Thou shalt not kill), Freud believes that religion has failed because it is based on an illusion. It is better to face our own helplessness and become aware of our repressed urges. Instead of religion, Freud advocates common sense, especially scientific thinking. That should be given the opportunity to face the ambivalences of life.
The father projection in religion
Adults, like children, often suffer from weakness and helplessness, according to Freud. Adults can also long for a loving father, just as children do when they feel helpless. Children naturally seek safety and security in a relationship. According to Freud, adults seek protective love in the model of the loving father. Freud refers to this as father projection: the protective father from childhood is elevated to an all-powerful God. The function of this all-powerful God is to make man’s helplessness bearable in the face of natural disasters, suffering and hardship, up to and including death.
Ambivalence towards the father
According to Freud, the attitude towards one’s own father is often ambivalent. On the one hand, people fear the father as an authority who limits their own instinctive life, and on the other hand, they seek his protection. Likewise, the attitude towards God is often ambivalent. Although people expect all help from him, he remains feared at the same time. On the one hand, God meets the wishes of the individual, on the other hand he is also the strict father who calls for obedience and socially desirable actions. According to Freud, this ambivalence is found in all religions.
The origin of religion
Freud searches for the origins of man’s image of God. First of all, in his book ,Totem and Taboo, (1913) he exposes the cultural-historical roots of religion. Following the founder of the theory of evolution, Charles Darwin, Freud assumes that humans originally lived in a primordial horde. These hordes were ruled by a despotic father. The powerful father lived as an autocrat. He lived in rivalry with his sons, especially because of his tendency to keep the women of the Primordial Horde for himself. The jealous sons rebelled against him. Together they kill their own father: the first murder. They tear his flesh with their teeth, according to Freud.
Totem and taboo
After the brutal murder of the founding father, the sons are tormented by remorse and guilt over their actions. They think with fear of the possibility that the murdered father will one day return for revenge. That’s why they try to placate him. They even elevate him to the status of a God, a totem. They are going to worship him. By way of reconciliation, they renounce their newly acquired rights and try to erase their act. This led to two taboos. Firstly, the prohibition of incest (restraining sexual desires) and secondly, the prohibition of killing the totem animal, an image of the powerful father (restraining aggressive instincts).
,Now what is a totem? As a rule, an animal, an edible, harmless or dangerous, feared animal — less often a plant or a force of nature (rain, water) — that stands in a special relationship to the whole sibbe. The totem is first of all the ancestor of the sibbe, but then also her guardian spirit and helper who sends oracles to his children and knows and respects them, no matter how dangerous he may be. The totem companions, on their part, are subject to the sacred obligation not to kill (destroy) their totem ), for otherwise punishment follows automatically, and to deprive oneself of one’s flesh (or the pleasure it otherwise affords). The totemic character is not peculiar to any individual animal or being, but to all specimens of the species. Of time From time to time, festivals are celebrated in which the totem companions portray or imitate the movements and peculiarities of their totem in ceremonial dances., (Freud, Works 6, Totem and Taboo, p. 19)
A universal obsessive-compulsive disorder
The rules of social interaction, morality and religion have their origins in the murder of the primeval father. The feelings of guilt from this murder, which arose from love for the father, initiated the development of the superego. In the superego is the voice of the internalized father. The superego is a kind of conscience in which the father expresses his will and law. According to Freud, religion is a universal obsessional neurosis. Through this obsessive-compulsive disorder, people try to deal with their pain. In Christianity, God the father is placed on a pedestal and people look for ways to be redeemed from hereditary guilt, the original sin. In the Christian Eucharist, Freud sees a kind of totemic feast, in which the ,children of God, feast on God’s own flesh and blood.
,Throughout time, our gaze follows the identity of totem meal and animal sacrifice, theanthropic human sacrifice and Christian Eucharist, and recognizes in all these ceremonies the echo of the crime that burdened people so heavily and of which they should be so proud. The Christian Communion is essentially a renewed elimination of the father, a repetition of the act to be atoned., (Freud, Works 6, Totem and Taboo, p. 160)
An evaluation of Freud’s psychology on religion
Freud sees himself as a man of science. His theory was based on many accurate observations of his patients. His work is very coherent. His theory is based on observations of people who suffered from psychological functioning. Mentally healthy people are not analyzed by him.
Freud tried to join the great scientists of his time. Important theories for him were Helmholtz’s law of conservation of energy and Darwin’s theory of evolution. Unfortunately, Freud’s theory has not been subjected to any testing and therefore remains a theory. His idea of the primal murder of the ruling father can therefore be dismissed as fantasy. In his appreciation of religion, Freud reduces religion to a psychological phenomenon and ignores the literary, historical, social and spiritual dimensions of religion.