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What does the question presuppose?

On the most simplistic level the question queries the validity of belief if it is accompanied by emotional needs, and presupposes that those who believe in God do so, not because God exists, but only because they want to believe that he does. However, emotional bias is going to affect every human being in answering questions that are infinitely defining for his/her life, in this case, the existence of God. Therefore, what is important to consider when dealing with these questions, both those who believe in God and those who don’t, is: ‘What is true, regardless of how I feel?’, rather than just: ‘How do I feel about this?’

Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-72) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Feuerbach and Freud were two thinkers who made significant contributions to the question of psychological projection. They rightly questioned the truth and accessibility of a faith that was based on subjective experience. They argued that man had desires that were not fulfilled, and an understanding of the idea of perfection, and therefore projected them into an idea, namely, God. Therefore, Feuerbach argued that experiences of God were really people’s experience of themselves. His arguments may have been valid if Christian faith truly were only based on internal experiences. However, God has revealed himself not only to individuals by experience, but also in the Bible. Christian faith has never been entirely subjective; faith has to be based on something solid. It arises from an encounter with God, through Christ, mediated by scripture.

The main objection to projection theory is just that, it is a theory, and it cannot be proved or tested, verified or falsified. It is based on a simple idea, that if someone wants something to be true, they will believe that it is, for their own comfort. However, is this really the case universally? Do all Christians come to faith because they want it to be true? There are many who do not. For example C. S. Lewis describes that he was ‘surprised by joy’  after coming to believe in Jesus. Also, by the same merits of Feuerbach and Freud’s arguments, it would be equally valid to say that those who do not believe in God do so because they do not want God to exist. They project the idea of the non-existence of God from their emotional needs. However, this method of reasoning is highly simplistic, and does not do justice to the thinking Atheist. Likewise, it does not do justice to the thinking Christian.

* For a more detailed critique of Feuerbach and Freud see: http://www.bethinking.org/truth-tolerance/god-as-wish-fulfilment.htm

‘God’ as wish-fulfilment

Although it is evident that not all of humanity ‘desires’ a God, it is true that a large amount of humanity do. This very fact, far from it proving the psychological projection theory, instead, fits perfectly with the Christian creation story: that we are made in God’s image for a relationship with him, and so we desire to relate to our creator, as we are made like him in certain finite ways. It certainly is rather incredible that humanity does have such a universal tendency, if we are just the product of our environment, and thus essentially only complex matter. Throughout history and up until today there is something in humanity that longs for that which is beyond us, bigger than us, something that can ultimately fulfil us. This is the essence of what drives every human. Are we happy merely to exist? Do we long for something that will give us significance and purpose to our existence? How is it that we feel we need to validate our existence? Instead of these feelings giving rise to a make-believe God, the presents of these longings strongly suggest something about our nature that goes beyond the material that we are made of. That we are made in God’s image, to relate to him.

‘Crutch’?

When it is asked: is not ‘God’ a psychological crutch? It raises the question: what type of God? For a God that we have invented should comfort us from all our troubles, and fulfil all of our needs not yet satisfied. But do we find the God of the Bible to display only these attributes? In both the Old and New Testaments God is very angry at ‘sin’ (humanities tendency to turn away from him and do what ‘is right in his own eyes’, i.e. to put himself at the centre of the universe, and do what is not right in God’s estimation). In the Old Testament, Israel was known as God’s people. If he is a projection, would he not be continually validating and justifying all Israel’s endeavours? Cheering from the side-lines, in perfect accord with the dominant politics of the day? But we find the very opposite, Israel’s prophets were consistently warning them of God’s anger at their idols, injustice, cruelty, and unfair treatment of the poor. This is true of the books of, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, and Malachi, a large percentage of the Bible.

Jesus

Finally, but most critically, Jesus Christ was God (the second person of the Trinity) who entered human history as a man who lived on Earth as we do. His identity is not a matter of projection, but historical analysis. Christianity is unique in teaching that God, in his hatred of sin but his love for us, came to earth as a man, lived the perfect life and suffered the death that we deserved for our turning away from God. As such God made it possible for us to be forgiven, without neglecting to be just in punishing sin, but putting our punishment on Christ. Is Christ God as well as man? This is not a question of subjective projection, since there are records of what he did and how he lived in the Bible, in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Christ’s divinity is proved by his resurrection, an event that can be researched and validated historically. Belief in God, for Christians, is not just emotional and philosophical, but also a matter of history.

** For more sources on the resurrection:

1. http://www.bethinking.org/resurrection-miracles/
2. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2007/2390_Historical_Evidence_for_the_Resurrection/

3. For an understanding of what we believe about Christ: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2003/1960_What_We_Believe_About_Jesus_Christ/

4. For another essay on: ‘Isn’t God a psychological crutch?’ read: But isn’t it Real?, Amy Orr-Ewing, Intervarsity Press, 2008, chapter 3.

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