Theories of the Origin of Religion.

Theories of the Origin of Religion

• This unit explores theories on the origin of religion from a non-faith perspective.
• These theories generally acknowledge the widespread belief in supernatural beings or God across societies, and their potential influence on human life.
• Some theories suggest religion or God arose from human fear or as a means to provide security.
• Understanding the views of Ernst Haeckel is essential.
• Examine the anthropological origins of religion as presented by Edward Burnett Tylor, James George Frazer, and Salomon Reinach.
• Examine the views of Sigmund Freud, and James Henry Leuba on religion.
• Understanding the Sociopolitical origin of religion.
• Understanding the theory of Emile Durkheim.

Introduction to Secular Theories

• Secular theories view religion as an empirical entity that can be historically traced and geographically mapped.
• Religions are considered human creations, with their history intertwined with the broader history of human culture.
• Early religions may have originated as responses to human fear and the need for security and control.
• The unit will cover naturalistic, anthropological, psychological, sociological, and sociopolitical theories of religion.

Naturalistic Origin of Religion

• Beginning with the Enlightenment, attempts were made to explain religion naturalistically by skeptics.
• These attempts questioned the widespread belief in supernatural beings and the associated rituals.
• Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), a scientist turned philosopher, pioneered the naturalistic theory.
• Haeckel believed that 19th-century science would solve the enigmas perplexing mankind.
• He termed his system "monism," opposing dualisms.
• Monism posits a single substance manifesting as matter, energy, body, and spirit.
• Material atoms possess a rudimentary soul below consciousness.
• In evolution, substance's psychological character gradually advances to consciousness.
• Monism implies no matter without spirit and vice versa.
• This theory is grounded in demonstrable scientific results.
• It refutes traditional concepts of God, freedom, and immortality.
• Ideas of God, freedom, and immortality stem from mistaken dualism.
• Monism denies the existence of a separate God.
• In a monistic, deterministic cosmos, there's no place for the immortality of the soul or freedom of will.

Anthropological Origin of Religion

• Naturalistic interpretations of religion were supported by the developing science of anthropology.
• Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917), James George Frazer (1854–1941), and Salomon Reinach (1858–1932) contributed to the anthropological theory.
• Tylor suggested that Religion can be studied scientifically.
• Tylor posited two assumptions:
  • Human culture, including knowledge, art, religion, and customs, has laws that can be studied scientifically.
  • Cultural grades in the human race can be exhibited as stages in development or evolution.
• The phenomenon of ‘survival' - established ideas or customs persist, even becoming meaningless in later cultures is worth noting.
• Tylor's main contribution was his theory of "animism," namely the belief in spiritual beings.
• Primitive humans accounted phenomena like death and dreams in terms of a spirit separable from the body.
• Spirits were believed to control events and affect human lives, which lead peoples to revere and propitiate them.
• The belief in spiritual beings is the minimum condition of religion with higher religions being the developed matrix of primitive animism.
• The superiority of higher religions is in their moral ideas.

Frazer and the Stages of Mental Development

• James George Frazer distinguished three stages in the mental development of mankind: magic, religion, and, science, each of which do not follow each other in clear-cut order.
• At the magical level, man depends on his own strength to overcome difficulties, believing in manipulating the order of nature by occult means.
• When magic fails, man turns to religion.
• In religion, man relies on invisible beings to control natural events. The religious attitude supposes that there is elasticity in nature.
• The rigidity of nature is discovered, and religion gives way to Science.
• In science, man reverts to self-reliance but through rational methods

Reinach's Perspective on Religion

• Salomon Reinach, was an archaeologist and anthropologist.
• Reinach saw a science of religion as apt and necessary.
• Reinach defines religion as a sum of scruples which hinder the free exercise of our faculties,
• Reinach eliminates, from religion, the concept of God, spiritual beings, and the infinite, which have arisen from the irrational taboos of primitive societies that were involved in an animistic view of the world.
• Human progress involved gradual secularizing of elements which were originally all enveloped in the sphere of animistic beliefs.

Psychological Origin of Religion

• The naturalistic interpretation of religion was further stimulated by the development of psychology.
• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) is recognized as the main proponent of this theory.
• James Henry Leuba (1867–1946) is also relevant since he is considered the pioneer of this theory.

Leuba's View on Religion

• According to Leuba, the existence of religion stems from its biological worth.
• Leuba applies this idea with the belief of a personal God.
• Theologists that have formerly come with metaphysical arguments i.e, the argument from design no longer hold weight with scientific progress.
• Theologians appeal to inner experience. They have to agree with psychology, which applies the method to the innermost experiences of the soul.
• Instead of determining personal God, they have to show how they arisen from the gratification it provides for affective and moral needs.
• He applies special attention to mystical experience which is pinnacle of religion of God. He tires to explain it in psychological and physiological terms, like the sublimation of sexual passion: it is a state of consciousness induced by certain drugs
• A religious mystic is not the revelation of God to scientists.
• In good conscience, men have to endorse religion with transcendent beliefs.

Freud and Religion as Illusion

• Sigmund Freud, the originator of psychoanalysis, saw religious beliefs as fulfillments of mankind's deepest wishes.
• Considered religion a mental defense against aspects of nature – earthquake, flood, storm, disease and inevitable death.
• Human imagination transforms nature into mysterious personal powers. These are forces that inflict cruelty on the world.
• If elements have the same passions and behaviours as in humanity's souls of our own society, we feel at home in the uncanny and deal by psychical means with our senseless anxiety.
• With reactions at the ready, we can apply the same methods against supermen outside that we employ in our own society.
• Can adjure them/rob them of their power with influence.

Freud's Division of the Mind

• Freud divides the mind into Id (instincts), Ego (contact with world), and Superego (deposit of parental influences of childhood.)
• As primal instincts repressed, they continue to live in the unconscious, manifesting/neurosis.
• Freud says religion is the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity which will be left behind once people learn truth.

Oedipus complex

• Freud applies the idea of Oedipus complex (father murdered and married w/ his mother) to the origin of religion.
• Primitive times human beings lived in small groups, each under the domination of all females.
• But they grouped together and killed father to share his power which set up tensions within the human psyche out of which have developed moral inhibitions.
• The dead father turns to a new taboo against incest, and is the reason for the authority of God, God is just a magnified human father.

Criticism of Origin

• Naturalists, anthropologists and psychologists whom we have considered do have something to suggest in their interpretation of religion. The strength of their claim rests on the claim that it is based verifiable facts by scientific investigation.
• These claims are extremely shaky since the scientists introduce their interpretations into their finding.
• Naturalism is a gigantic one-sided abstraction that represents a segment of reality as being all of it.
• Religious beliefs are only known through the whole religious life, there is both conative (causes) and affective elements.
• Must remember that origin of belief does not determine validity.

Critique of Freud

• Something derived from an origin may acquire new status and meaning.
• Freud traces the history that discredits belief in God. While tracing father figure he discredits God, which doesn’t apply in general.
• Freud’s ideas never had any degree of acceptance as neurosis is defined as condition of adjusting a bad environment, as where as religion is a good outcome.
• Just because religion has relieved an individual, does not make it the universal neurosis.
• Not one has shown show people are less able to establish satisfying personal relations than non believers are.

Criticisms

• Freud commits psycho mechanistic parallelism, behaviour are both observable and attributable to psychological reasons. Freud is wrong.
• Ther’s no perfect Oedipus complex, for children it is more complex. Children need a period of time to think about its contents.
• Word illusion does not mean absence of reality.

Social origin of religion

• In the work of Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) theory origin of religion is sociological since society is the way for understating problems, and truth/false are objective.
• It is source of constraints, philosophy, and social philosophy.
• Religious can be first seen in not animism/ most fundamental religion, but totemism, which is more the origin.

Essence of Religion

• Religion as a social phenomenon, which is taken up and based by the people, is in the center of attention.
• Earlier theories suffered from the belief/ he thought there was point of view.

Criticisms

• The idea of beliefs have grown with science. They must always looked for to express.
• Reaffirmation is essentially a re-expression of belief system. Society comes together and then religion can grow.
• Must check and keep with the idea.

Sociopolitical

• Here be Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Marx
• God was first thought. the more human it gets is more philosophical, or it must be completely separated from humanity to have value.
• In short the nation of God is only a man’ projection. is on his power the human spices.

Negativity

• personal of Christianity, is just as personal as we are.
• As he reject religion, Marx the inherited atheism from Feuerbach even before he was atheist.

Communist views

• To cure humans, it takes cure and symptoms so something can take symptoms and try to affect it.

Summarizations

• Always project the limit.
• From Max point, Religious always conflicts human. If god is the master, then the man has control. The man is independent and can choose the power structure.
• There will no longer mass humanity and no more society for Marx.