Sigmund Freud and religion

Sigmund Freud in his laboratory

Psychologist Sigmund Freud was a proponent of atheism who argued that theism was detrimental to mental health.[1] Oxford Professor Alister McGrath, author of the book The Twilight of Atheism, stated the following regarding Freud:

“  |  One of the most important criticisms that Sigmund Freud directed against religion was that it encourages unhealthy and dysfunctional outlooks on life. Having dismissed religion as an illusion, Freud went on to argue that it is a negative factor in personal development. At times, Freud's influence has been such that the elimination of a person's religious beliefs has been seen as a precondition for mental health.

Freud is now a fallen idol, the fall having been all the heavier for its postponement. There is now growing awareness of the importance of spirituality in health care, both as a positive factor in relation to well-being and as an issue to which patients have a right. The "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine" conference sponsored by Harvard Medical School in 1998 brought reports that 86 percent of Americans as a whole, 99 percent of family physicians, and 94 percent of HMO professionals believe that prayer, meditation, and other spiritual and religious practices exercise a major positive role within the healing process.[1]

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The prestigious Mayo Clinic reported the following on December 11, 2001:

“  |  In an article also published in this issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic researchers reviewed published studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews and subject reviews that examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life and other health outcomes.

The authors report a majority of the nearly 350 studies of physical health and 850 studies of mental health that have used religious and spiritual variables have found that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes.[2]

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Freud remains popular among postmodern literary academics, who use his anti-Christian pseudoscience as a basis for their own anti-Christianity and moral relativism, even though his theories were disproved decades ago.

## References[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/march/21.36.html
2. ↑ http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/76/12/1225.full.pdf