For example, psychological neuroses typically surface due to the repression of the sex drive while religions demand repression of selfishness and control of the ego instinct. Further, the ceremonies require the repression of basic instincts.

They also both feel guilty unless they follow the rules of their rituals to perfection.

He claims that both emphasize doing things in a patterned, ceremonial fashion. In an early paper on religion, Obsessive Actions and Religious Practices (1907), Freud observes what to him is a close resemblance between the activities of religious people and the behaviours of his neurotic patients. For example, why if religious beliefs are so obviously false do so many people still hold to them and often with deep conviction? Freud thought that the answer to this question would be found in psychoanalysis. Instead, religious beliefs are superstitions, which were nonetheless interesting because they raised questions concerning human nature and the mind. Freud found no reason to believe in God and saw no value or purpose in the ritual of religious life. However, Freud’s personal view of religion and God was complete rejection as one biographer states, Freud “went through life from beginning to end a natural atheist… One who saw no reason for believing in the existence of any supernatural Being and who felt no emotional need for such belief” (1). It also seems that religious ideas and imagery featured prominently in the neuroses of some of his patients. It is likely that during his childhood he had a basic acquaintance with the teachings of Judaism and Christianity. Once Freud had developed the basic ideas of psychoanalysis he found religion a promising subject of study. Moses and Monotheism will not feature in this post and will be explored in a subsequent entry. There is a third: Moses and Monotheism (1939). Freud’s engagement with religion was not limited to these two books. We return to these criticisms and limitations, as well as to Freud’s theories on religion presented in two important works: Totem and Taboo (1913) and The Future of an Illusion (1927). There we concluded that his theory holds little value as a theory of religion given Freud’s own clear philosophical convictions and his goal to explain religion away rather than explain religion itself. We previously produced a shorter version of Sigmund Freud’s (1856-1939) theory of religion as it is of use to Religious Studies as an academic discipline.

Freud totem