A Psychology of Theism

We saw in yesterday’s study that atheists accuse Christians of bias in their consideration of the question of God’s existence. They contend that Christians want so desperately for God to be real they ignore the data that indicate He is a fiction. This idea gained wide acceptance during the Enlightenment, the upsurge in scientific and philosophical thought at the end of the eighteenth century in Europe. The Enlightenment led to the conclusion that the “God hypothesis” was no longer necessary to explain the universe. By the nineteenth century, most leading thinkers, being steeped in Enlightenment skepticism, were largely unconcerned with me existence of God—they saw that question as answered in the negative. They were more interested in the question of why, given that there was no God, so many people were still convinced that He was there. In other words, they wanted to know what bias led people to become theists. Many theories about the proliferation of religion were promulgated.

Sigmund Freud said religion was invented as a means of self-preservation. Early man, he said, was confronted by impersonal natural forces that seemed hostile—tornadoes, floods, and so forth. To control these forces, man personalized them, imagining that the forces were gods who might be appeased in some way.

Ludwig Feuerbach believed that religion was a tool to overcome the problem of death. He said every culture creates a god in its own image, projecting human concepts to the nth degree. God is seen as a superman who will save from death.

Karl Marx said religion was invented by the ruling classes to keep the masses under control. Religion, he said, puts a premium on humility and submission, and teaches deferred gratification in a world to come. Slaves get a reward later, while owners enjoy this world.

Friedrich Nietzsche said religion arose to give comfort to weak people who lack the courage to create their own values and carry out their own destinies. He said people cling to religion because they need it. It is their crutch.

These theories assume that mankind was driven by some motive—fear, exploitation, weakness—to imagine a divine being against all reason and evidence. Is that assumption correct? Paul says no.