Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsInfluencesFreud’s View of ReligionFreud’s Criticisms of ReligionThe Psychoanalytic View

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Influences

Freud’s View of Religion

Freud’s Criticisms of Religion

The Psychoanalytic View

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Sigmund Freud is most famous for the psychoanalytic school of thought he founded, but he also took a keen interest in religion. As an adult, Freud considered himself an atheist, but his Jewish background and upbringing played an important role in the development of his ideas. He even wrote several books focused on the topic of religion. Learn more about Freud’s complicated relationship withreligionandspirituality.

Freud’s Early Religious Influences

Sigmund Freudwas born to Jewish parents in the heavily Roman Catholic town of Freiburg, Moravia.Although he was straightforward about his atheism and believed that religion was something to overcome, he was aware of its powerful influence on identity. He acknowledged that his Jewish heritage, as well as the antisemitism he frequently encountered, had helped shape his personality.

“My language is German. My culture, my attainments are German. I considered myself German intellectually until I noticed the growth of anti-Semitic prejudice in Germany and German Austria. Since that time, I prefer to call myself a Jew,” he wrote in 1925.

Sigmund Freud’s Life, Theories, and Influence

Religion According to Freud

So how did Freud feel about religion? In some of his best-known writings, he suggested that it is an “illusion,” a form of neurosis, and perhaps even an attempt to gain control.

Religion, Freud believed, was an expression of underlying psychological neuroses and distress—an attempt to gain control over the external world.At various points in his writings, he also suggested that religion is an attempt to control theOedipal complex(as opposed to theElectra complex), a means of providing structure in social groups, wish fulfillment, an infantile delusion, and a desire to control the outside world.

He wrote several books devoted to the subject, including “Totem and Taboo” (1913), “The Future of an Illusion” (1927), “Civilization and Its Discontents” (1930), and “Moses and Monotheism” (1939).

Notable Quotes

In his “New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis” (1933), Freud wrote: “Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from its readiness to fit in with our instinctual wishful impulses.”

In “The Future of an Illusion,” Freud wrote, “Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis.”

Freud on Faith

FromFreud’s psychoanalytic perspective, religion is the unconscious mind’s need for wish fulfillment. Freud believed that people choose to believe in God, who represents a powerful father figure, because they need to feel secure and absolve themselves of guilt,

Freud’s Perspective on Women

5 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Grubin D.Young Dr. Freud.Public Broadcasting Service.Library of Congress.A Word About Antisemitism. In: Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture Exhibition.Skoll GR, Maximiliano K.Risks, totems, and fetishes in Marx and Freud.Sincronía. 2012(62):1-27.Freud, S., & Freud, S. (1989).The Future of an Illusion(Standard ed). Norton.Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (2010).Civilization and Its Discontents. W.W. Norton & Company.Additional ReadingFreud S.The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.(Strachey J, Freud A, eds.) 24 vols. London: 1953-1964.Novak D.On Freud’s theory of law and religion.International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 2016;48:24-34. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.06.007

5 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Grubin D.Young Dr. Freud.Public Broadcasting Service.Library of Congress.A Word About Antisemitism. In: Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture Exhibition.Skoll GR, Maximiliano K.Risks, totems, and fetishes in Marx and Freud.Sincronía. 2012(62):1-27.Freud, S., & Freud, S. (1989).The Future of an Illusion(Standard ed). Norton.Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (2010).Civilization and Its Discontents. W.W. Norton & Company.Additional ReadingFreud S.The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.(Strachey J, Freud A, eds.) 24 vols. London: 1953-1964.Novak D.On Freud’s theory of law and religion.International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 2016;48:24-34. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.06.007

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Grubin D.Young Dr. Freud.Public Broadcasting Service.Library of Congress.A Word About Antisemitism. In: Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture Exhibition.Skoll GR, Maximiliano K.Risks, totems, and fetishes in Marx and Freud.Sincronía. 2012(62):1-27.Freud, S., & Freud, S. (1989).The Future of an Illusion(Standard ed). Norton.Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (2010).Civilization and Its Discontents. W.W. Norton & Company.

Grubin D.Young Dr. Freud.Public Broadcasting Service.

Library of Congress.A Word About Antisemitism. In: Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture Exhibition.

Skoll GR, Maximiliano K.Risks, totems, and fetishes in Marx and Freud.Sincronía. 2012(62):1-27.

Freud, S., & Freud, S. (1989).The Future of an Illusion(Standard ed). Norton.

Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (2010).Civilization and Its Discontents. W.W. Norton & Company.

Freud S.The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.(Strachey J, Freud A, eds.) 24 vols. London: 1953-1964.Novak D.On Freud’s theory of law and religion.International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 2016;48:24-34. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.06.007

Freud S.The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.(Strachey J, Freud A, eds.) 24 vols. London: 1953-1964.

Novak D.On Freud’s theory of law and religion.International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 2016;48:24-34. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.06.007

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