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GOD, FREUD and RELIGION: the Origins of Faith, Fear And Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 GOD, FREUD AND RELIGION Does God exist? Was Freud right to view religion as a residue of infantile wish-fulfi llment? Can modern science and spirituality be reconciled? Not afraid to tackle the big questions, Kenny’s prodigious combination of clarity and scholarship are exceptional. If Freud is the Bach of modern psychology, reading her – uniquely a Professor of Music as well as Psychology – is to encounter classic psychoanalytic scores interpreted in the light of contemporary understanding. A must-read for all students of psychoanalysis, psychology, philosophy and religion, and all who seek illumination in a post-modern world of chaos and confusion. Professor Jeremy Holmes, MD, FRCPsych, University of Exeter, UK This is a remarkable work of analysis and integration of perspectives. Dianna Kenny addresses crucial questions: can science and religion pull together as a team instead of pulling apart? Should we blame religious fanatics or religion itself for violence? Does religion have a monopoly on values? The author canvasses questions of faith, extremism and violence in Christian and Islamic religions and evokes parallels with nationalistic ideologies and dictatorial regimes from earlier and more recent history. This work should help us understand how fundamentalist beliefs are formed and why they are diffi cult to modify, and how religious beliefs can be employed in the service of perverting human nature for political and other secular purposes. Professor Kenny’s discussion of the formation of fundamentalist beliefs can contribute towards understanding some of the underlying roots of current confl icts, for example in the Middle East, and assist in confl ict resolution and the achievement of peace in our troubled world. As such it is particularly timely. Ahmad Shboul, AM, Former Chair of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, The University of Sydney Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 Religious fundamentalism – what Kenny aptly characterizes as terror theology – has been a major source of violence, both large scale and small, over the course of human history. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the “holy” crusades are just two of a multitude of examples of atrocities committed in the name of God. Thus Kenny’s penetrating, exhaustive, multidisciplinary examination of the genesis of religious belief and how it has been exploited for political purposes is no mere academic exercise. It is an attempt to locate signifi cant roots of what philosopher Hannah Arendt aptly terms radical evil. Robert D. Stolorow, PhD, author, World, Aff ectivity, Trauma: Heidegger and Post-Cartesian Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2011) Did God create man or did man create God? In this book, Dianna Kenny examines religious belief through a variety of perspectives – psychoanalytic, cognitive, neuropsychological, sociological, historical and psychiatric – to provide a coherent account of why people might believe in God. She argues that psychoanalytic theory provides a fertile and creative approach to the study of religion that attempts to integrate religious belief with our innate human nature and developmental histories that have unfolded in the context of our socialization and cultural experiences. Freud argued that religion is so compelling because it solves the problems of our existence. It explains the origin of the universe, off ers solace and protection from evil, and provides a blueprint about how we should live our lives, with just rewards for the righteous and due punishments for sinners and transgressors. Science, on the other hand, off ers no such explanations about the universe or the meaning of our lives and no comfort for the unanswered longings of the human race. Is religion a form of wish-fulfi lment, a collective delusion to which we cling as we try to fathom our place and purpose in the drama of cosmology? Can there be morality without faith? Are science and religion radically incompatible? What are the roots of fundamentalism and terror theology? These are some of the questions addressed in God, Freud and Religion , a book that will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychologists and psychotherapists, students of psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy and theology and all those with an interest in religion and human behaviour. Dianna T. Kenny is Professor of Psychology at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is the author of over 200 publications, including six books. Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 GOD, FREUD AND RELIGION The origins of faith, fear and fundamentalism Dianna T. Kenny Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 First published 2015 by Routledge 27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Dianna T. Kenny The right of Dianna T. Kenny to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Kenny, Dianna T. God, Freud and religion : the origins of faith, fear and fundamentalism / Dianna T. Kenny. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. 1. Freud, Sigmund, 1856–1939. 2. Psychology and religion. 3. Violence– Religious aspects. 4. Psychoanalysis. I. Title. BF173.F85K46 2015 ′ 200.1 9–dc23 2014039671 ISBN: 978-1-138-79132-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-79133-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-76289-0 (ebk) Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 Typeset in Bembo by Out of House Publishing To Sheryn and Anthony and Helen and Salome who exemplify the “meaning of life: the act of living itself” (Erich Fromm) Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 A time there was – as one may guess And as, indeed, earth’s testimonies tell – Before the birth of consciousness, When all went well. Thomas Hardy, “Before Life and After” (1928), from Winter Words (Gibson ( 2001 )) Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 CONTENTS List of tables ix 1 Science, God and religion 1 Introduction 1 Freud, science and religion 4 Aims 7 2 Does God exist? 10 The affi rmative argument 10 The negative argument 21 Science and religion 35 Religion and cognition 41 3 The common origins in human nature of taboos, conscience, neurosis and religion 48 The origin and meaning of totems and religion 48 Taboos: Totem and Taboo ( 1913 ) 56 Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 Freud and Durkheim on religion 65 4 Freud, religion, culture and philosophy 69 Exposition: The Future of an Illusion ( 1927 ) 69 Civilization and its Discontents (1930) 74 Moses and Monotheism (1939): Freud’s fi nal religious and philosophical contemplations 77 viii Contents 5 Freud, the demonic, madness and the fanciful 82 Historical context embeddedness of demonic phenomena and madness 82 A demonological illness: the case of Christoph Haizmann 88 Psychoanalytic explanations for demonological and other ‘religious’ phenomena in psychotic illnesses 90 The psychodynamics of myth, legend and fairy tale 94 The formative personal contexts of religious and philosophical thought 102 6 Critiques of Freud’s theory on religion 109 Religion as a social construction and a wish-fulfi lling illusion 109 Contemporary psychoanalysis and religion 120 7 Group psychology and the psychoanalysis of violence 130 The power of the collective: social psychology and group behaviour 130 Group processes 137 The psychoanalysis of violence 144 8 Terror theology and fundamentalism 156 Facts and fi gures on the world’s religions 159 In the name of God: Christian fundamentalism 160 The birth of Islam: the Prophet Muhammad 170 In the name of Allah: Islamic fundamentalism 177 Conclusions and a cautionary tale 192 Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 References 196 Index 216 TABLES 2.1 Percentages of Muslims who believe in God, that God is necessary for human morality and that religion is very important in my life 19 2.2 Classifi cation criteria for h é autoscopy, out-of-body experience and autoscopic hallucinations 38 2.3 Shared characteristics of the Unconscious and God 43 5.1 Mythical creatures and psychological function 97 8.1 Percentage of world population by religious affi liation 160 8.2 Percentage of Muslims who agreed that suicide bombing against civilian targets is often or sometimes justifi ed, by country 180 Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 This page intentionally left blank Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:51 14 August 2016 1 SCIENCE, GOD AND RELIGION Introduction Le doute n’est pas une condition agr é able, mais la certitude est absurde. (Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd) Voltaire, in a letter to Frederick II of Prussia (6 April 1767 ) Historically, enlivened debate on religion and the existence of God has been prompted by scientifi c advances. Examples include Copernicus’s heliocentrism (i.e., discovery that the earth was not the centre of the universe) and Galileo’s telescope that allowed us to see further into the galaxy than ever before, and which supported Copernicus’s view that the sun was the centre of the cosmos.
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