Atheism

Atheism

Is Belief in God Mere Wishful Thinking?

Even though many of us believe in a beneficent God, we are hesitant, if not fearful, about manifesting this conviction in public. We then find that this absence of public conviction redounds back to us. We begin to be reticent about believing what we do not declare in public, and this reticence turns into interior doubt, and then we find ourselves declining in hope and subtly inclining toward skepticism and even cynicism. Thus, we may find ourselves taking on a perspective which is opposed to our beliefs and convictions. Why would we do this?

The reason we do not publicly declare our belief in God is because of our fear of being branded as “naïve optimists,” “dependent on a crutch,” “too weak to face reality,” or “ignorant fools.”

.Freud proclaims that a benevolent God is the sole result of wishful thinking.

The popularization of this declaration has caused fearfulness about public disclosure of belief in God and eternal life. Most college students and college-educated adults are aware of the “crutch argument” which they have received from popular culture and even some teachers. No one wants to be accused of relying on a crutch, or of naively refusing to face reality which implies being either a coward or a fool, or both; and if they are not intellectually prepared to challenge the factual or logical adequacy of Freud’s claim, many prefer to hide their beliefs or to pretend that they have opposite beliefs from the ones they really hold. The desire for acceptance by the supposed intellectuals and sophisticates of the culture is so strong that they mask their true inclinations, intuitions, and identity in favor of platitudes given them by pseudo-intellectuals. This causes the slow erosion of hope (and the subtle increase of skepticism and cynicism described above).

The truth is that Freud’s claim is logically inadequate and factually inaccurate. We may begin with its logical inadequacy. Prima facie, Freud’s argument cannot be proven, and that is why it must remain arbitrarily asserted and a leaping non-sequitur. The argument runs as follows: “Since my ‘wretched, ignorant, and downtrodden ancestors’ could not help but believe in a God that would protect them from the forces of nature, they invented a benevolent God.” Freud presumes we will conclude from this that God does not exist. Even if it were true that our ancestors invented a benevolent God (which it is not), it does not follow that God does not exist.

Just because I want something to be true does not mean that it is not true. I would like the day to be warm and sunny outside as I rise in the morning; this does not necessitate a cold and gloomy day. So also I would like God to exist; this does not necessitate His nonexistence. Indeed, if God existed, why wouldn’t He give me some clues to His existence that I might be aware of Him and even seek Him? 

Freud’s theory concerning the origins of religion in the individual is  generally  incapable of being tested. It is a hypothesis, not a fact. Freud could not to provide the crucial experimental data which would convert a hypothesis into a fact. On the relatively few points at which Freud’s hypothesis is capable of being tested experimentally, it is generally accepted that it is wrong. … Freud’s psychoanalytical atheism must now be regarded as a hypothesis that has not been, and indeed cannot be, proved.

There is a tremendous body of evidence from contemporary physics and philosophy validating a creation of the universe and the existence of God  There is also a significant body of historical evidence supporting the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection, as well as experientially verifiable evidence based on near-death experiences and rational evidence based on human transcendental desires . In view of this evidence, Freud’s declaration is revealed to be not only arbitrary and unprovable, but also invalid. But the problems with Freud’s declaration do not end here. He grounds his invalid argument in the proposition that our “wretched, ignorant, and downtrodden ancestors” invented a benevolent God to assuage their fears of the uncontrollable forces of nature. This contention is not factually accurate.

Religion was very likely not an invention of our ancestors to alleviate fear. Neither was it a mere projection of our ancestors’ innermost needs, nor a product of mere social-historical-cultural conditioning. It seems to be a consciousness – perhaps an altogether irreducible consciousness – of its own. So what can we say about contemporary belief in God – especially the Christian belief in a God of unconditional love? Is belief in this benevolent God simply a crutch? The answer to this question would have to be “no” (even if the alleviation of fear is involved in some people’s belief in God) because religion is very likely our response to our awareness of the sacred or spiritual. This awareness awakens within us both fear and the alleviation of fear, evil and good, cosmic evil and cosmic good, guilt and the alleviation of guilt, creatureliness and transcendence, God’s call to responsibility and God’s promise of love. Religion is a remarkably complex phenomenon and certainly cannot be reduced to the alleviation of fear or to a “crutch.” It involves self-awareness, courage, a sense of co-responsibility and duty, humility and self-sacrifice, principles, ideals, and love. In many of these respects it is the precise antithesis of a crutch or fear-alleviator, calling forth from us the very highest commitment of ourselves and our character. Believers should have no fear about being accused of fearfulness, for the very accusation is groundless and ignorant.

for more details:  http://magisgodwiki.org/index.php?title=Can_Atheism_Be_Rational%3F