Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism

Paul C. Vitz

Spence Publishing Company, 1999 - Atheism - 174 pages

Despite its pretensions to cool-headed rationality, modern atheism originated in the irrational, psychological needs of a few prominent thinkers. Paul Vitz subjects the apostles of atheism to the same psychological analysis with which they attempted to debunk religious belief. The psychological source of their militant atheism, he shows, was the absence of a good father.

Professor Vitz argues that psychoanalysis actually provides a more satisfying explanation for atheism than for belief. A biographical survey of influential atheists reveals that disappointment in one's earthly father frequently leads to a rejection of God.

Atheism is not psychologically determined. Each man, whatever his experience, ultimately chooses to accept God or reject him. Yet the cavalier attribution of religious faith to irrational, psychological needs is so prevalent that an exposition of the psychological factors predisposing one to atheism is necessary.

Contents

• Intense Atheism: 3
• FREUDS UNACKNOWLEDGED: 9
• ABUSIVE AND WEAK FATHERS: 34
• Jean dAlembert: 40
• Sigmund Freud: 47
• CONTEMPORARY ATHEISTS: 54
• George Berkeley: 60
• Moses Mendelssohn: 67
• John Henry Newman: 73
• Samuel Wilberforce: 77
• Albert Schweitzer: 85
• Abraham Heschel: 91
• POLITICAL ATHEISTS: 104
• EXCEPTIONS: 122
• A Personal Account: 130
• Conclusions: 139

Bibliographic information

• Title: Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism
• Author: Paul C. Vitz
• Publisher: Spence Publishing Company, 1999
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jun 24, 2009
• ISBN: 1890626120, 9781890626129
• Length: 174 pages