{"id":19060,"date":"2015-03-28T15:26:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T21:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=19060"},"modified":"2015-03-28T15:26:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-28T21:26:38","slug":"new-testament-116","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html","title":{"rendered":"New Testament 116"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The Future of an Illusion\" (1928)<\/a>
The 1928 cover of Freud\u2019s \u201cThe Future of an Illusion,\u201d one of his more important treatments of religious belief<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mark 3:19-21<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The notion, common among some adherents of the \u201cNew Atheism,\u201d that religion is a mental illness or a product of emotional dysfunction, is commonly traced back to the late Dr. Sigmund Freud. \u00a0(It rests on roughly the same rigorous analysis of empirical data that\u2019s used to support much<\/em> of Freudianism.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This passage, however, shows quite clearly that ancient unbelievers already knew how to play the madness card two thousand years ago. \u00a0It\u2019s nothing new.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freud regarded God as an illusion growing out of an infantile need for a powerful father figure. \u00a0Religion, he acknowledged, had perhaps been necessary to help us restrain violent impulses earlier in human history, when\u00a0civilization was still evolving , but, he argued, it can now be discarded and replaced by\u00a0reason and science.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul Vitz, an emeritus professor of psychology at New York University, turned Freud\u2019s notion on its head in his book\u00a0Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by analyzing the relationships of several historically influential atheists \u2014 including Dr. Freud himself \u2014 with their fathers. \u00a0He sees atheism as arising, in many of these cases, from problematic relationships with fathers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Armand Nicholi, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard and editor and co-author of The Harvard Guide to Psychiatry<\/em>, published\u00a0The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life <\/em><\/a>about a decade ago. \u00a0It\u2019s based on a course that Dr. Nicholi has now taught for roughly thirty-five years at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. \u00a0In my judgment, Freud doesn\u2019t fare\u00a0well in the comparison.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Bountiful, Utah<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Mark 3:19-21 \u00a0 The notion, common among some adherents of the \u201cNew Atheism,\u201d that religion is a mental illness or a product of emotional dysfunction, is commonly traced back to the late Dr. Sigmund Freud. \u00a0(It rests on roughly the same rigorous analysis of empirical data that\u2019s used to support much of Freudianism.) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Testament 116<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Mark 3:19-21   The notion, common among some adherents of the "New Atheism," that religion is a mental illness or a product of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Testament 116\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Mark 3:19-21   The notion, common among some adherents of the "New Atheism," that religion is a mental illness or a product of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-28T21:26:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/03\/page1-410px-Freud_1928_Die_Zukunft_einer_Illusion.djvu_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html\",\"name\":\"New Testament 116\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-28T21:26:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-28T21:26:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Mark 3:19-21   The notion, common among some adherents of the \\\"New Atheism,\\\" that religion is a mental illness or a product of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Testament 116\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Testament 116","description":"    Mark 3:19-21   The notion, common among some adherents of the \"New Atheism,\" that religion is a mental illness or a product of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Testament 116","og_description":"    Mark 3:19-21   The notion, common among some adherents of the \"New Atheism,\" that religion is a mental illness or a product of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2015-03-28T21:26:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/03\/page1-410px-Freud_1928_Die_Zukunft_einer_Illusion.djvu_.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html","name":"New Testament 116","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-28T21:26:38+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-28T21:26:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Mark 3:19-21   The notion, common among some adherents of the \"New Atheism,\" that religion is a mental illness or a product of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/new-testament-116.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Testament 116"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}