Religion is created
by man to fulfil a human
desire or purpose
Materialism
Nothing exists but
the empirical world
Psycological Critiques
Freud
Religion is just a way
to overcome inner
conflict
Nota:
famous examples of this include the
primal horde theory and Oedipus compex)
Need for a father figure
Religion was necessary for developing world, to
restrain violent impulses. In modern society, this
can be put away for reason and science
Carl Jung
The 'collective unconcious' of
humanity projects the
'archetype' of Hero - in the form
of an anthropomorphisesed
God
Sociological Critiques
Marx
Religion must be abolished as the illusory
happiness of people so that a true happiness
can be realised. Men will then control society
and thus not be controlled by it
Religion is used to oppress the poor - for
example the Divine Order of Being places
the rich as closer to God.
'the opium of the people'
Nietzche
Religion is a way of giving the
oppressed strength in face of their
oppressors.
Christian faith amongst Black groups in America
Durkheim
[Religion is] a unified system of beliefs and
practices relative to sacred things…beliefs and
practices which unite into one single moral
community called a church, all who adhere to them
Life is in tension between the sacred
and the profane (everyday)
while religion can be seen as a
positive force, it nevertheless is
motivated by society and not the
religious truths themselves
Dawkins
Religion teaches you to be satisfied
with not understanding the world.
Religion is about turning untested
belief into unshakable truth through
the power of institution
Young Earth Creationism as
40% of American belief.
Faith is the great cop out, the great
excuse to evade the need to think and
evaluate evidence
Colorado Hell House - religion is used to suppress and
oppress. Anti-gay propaganda and Pro-Life extreamism
Evidentialism
W. K. Clifford "It is wrong,
always, to believe anything
upon insufficient evidence"
Antony Flew - The Onus of proof is on the believer
to justify their claims, since the purpose of
philosophy is knowledge and they are
making 'unfalsifiable claims'
Bertrand Russell's teapot
Alisdair McGrath - "The capacity of science
to explain itself requires an explaination"
Alvin Plantinga - reformed
epistomology, God is a basic belief,
which does not need to be inferred.
"Belief making tools" of humanity
shows we were "made to have a
belief"