I am writing about Freud because he is the person that I most strongly disagree with out of the four. His beliefs are absolutely absurd to me. It is ridiculous to think that every man wants to marry his mother and every woman is envious of men. I don’t believe that all humans feel sexually guilty, and I do not believe that we truly want these things, deep down. Is religion a result of Oedipal Guilt? Is religion just a set of beliefs that we want to be true? I do not believe so. However, his idea that religion is necessary because it keeps us away from our own fear, could be very true. That’s why it is scary. Many of us worship. We believe in a higher power of some sort, and we practice our beliefs and customs. Most would say they have “strong faith” and believe they are committed to their religion, which keeps us grounded. It’s something to live for. What would society be like if religion did not exist?
I also really disagreed with pretty much everything that Freud had to say. I wrote about him in my blog too for those same reasons. I don’t know why he would think women are envious of men. I think it’s safe to say that we all love being women and wouldn’t change a thing about who we are. I also don’t understand why he thinks that that would be a reason for us to turn to religion, to get over this ‘guilt’ of wanting to be a man. After reading that, I felt like he just pulled it out of left field. I didn’t get it at all!
On another note, your statement that said, “his idea that religion is necessary because it keeps us away from our own fear..” really made me think. After you talked about that a little bit I can see that being true. People don’t like to deal with their problems or struggles, especially on their own, so they look to God for help. But what would we do if there wasn’t a God or higher power to go to for that help? I think in that case religion does really play a big role in society and people would be lost without it. I’m really glad you brought that up because I never really thought about that aspect of Freud’s reading.