{"id":44728,"date":"2017-10-30T05:49:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T11:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44728"},"modified":"2017-10-30T05:49:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T11:49:08","slug":"is-atheism-irrational","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/is-atheism-irrational.html","title":{"rendered":"Is atheism irrational?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Manhattan New York Temple, across the street from Lincoln Center in New York City
(LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another selection from my notes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harvard psychiatrist Armand Nicholi, Jr., suggests that one motivation for Freud\u2019s atheism may have been his overpowering desire, as an unfashionably Jewish intellectual in fin-de-siecle Vienna\u2014where anti-clericalism and secularizing contempt for religious belief were common among the educated elite\u2014for personal acceptance and the acceptance of his new theory of psychoanalysis.[1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freud\u2019s early experiences with anti-Semitism critically influenced his attitude toward the spiritual worldview.\u00a0 In Austria over 90 percent of the population registered as Catholic.\u00a0 Freud said that in this environment \u201cI was expected to feel myself inferior and an alien because I was a Jew.\u201d\u00a0 One can understand Freud\u2019s motivation to discredit and destroy what he called the \u201creligious Weltanschauung\u201d and why he referred to religion as \u201cthe enemy.\u201d\u00a0 Without this \u201cenemy\u201d he would not be in a tiny minority and expected to feel himself \u201cinferior and an alien.\u201d [2]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freud\u2019s philosophical works are not characterized by the objective, dispassionate tone of the clinician or scientist.\u00a0 Instead, they exhibit an intense, emotional, argumentative and, at times, desperate and pleading tone.\u00a0 Freud obviously feels intensely about these issues.\u00a0 He appears to be determined to destroy every possible reason for accepting the spiritual worldview. [3]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0Nicholi, The Question of God<\/em>, 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Nicholi, The Question of God<\/em>, 21-22.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0Nicholi, The Question of God<\/em>, 53.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An interesting and provocative article on a related topic:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Atheism Irrational?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now for some good passages from the late Hugh Nibley:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be like anybody else. Be different. Then you can make a contribution. Otherwise, you just echo something; you\u2019re just a reflection.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cApocryphal Writings,\u201d\u00a0Collected Works of Hugh Nibley<\/em>\u00a012:292<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only person you try to impress is your Heavenly Father, and it is awfully hard because he can\u2019t be fooled\u2014not for a minute. I have always felt driven in this way. The gospel is so wonderful. There is so much to find out. It opens the doors to so many things. It is sort of an obsession, a sort of personal thing. As long as you are going to be doing something, why not be doing something that hasn\u2019t been done before?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNibley the Scholar,\u201d 2<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you take yourself seriously, you won\u2019t take the gospel seriously and the other way around. If you take the gospel seriously then you will say, now I know that man is nothing. . . . Oh, the nothingness of man. We can joke about ourselves once we take the gospel seriously and once we know its blessings and promises. Then we can relax and breathe easily and have some fun, which I don\u2019t do enough of.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNibley the Scholar,\u201d 2<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A reflection from China on one of the talks delivered at the October 2017 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Secret Behind\u00a0Guanxi<\/i>: Earned Trust\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

Posted from New York City<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 Another selection from my notes: \u00a0 Harvard psychiatrist Armand Nicholi, Jr., suggests that one motivation for Freud\u2019s atheism may have been his overpowering desire, as an unfashionably Jewish intellectual in fin-de-siecle Vienna\u2014where anti-clericalism and secularizing contempt for religious belief were common among the educated elite\u2014for personal acceptance and the acceptance of his new […]<\/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-44728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs atheism irrational?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Another selection from my notes:   Harvard psychiatrist Armand Nicholi, Jr., suggests that one motivation for Freud\u2019s atheism may have\" \/>\n<meta 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