Psychology and Religion

Psychology and Religion

Around the world, many people confess to having religious experiences. These experiences vary in detail just as much as they vary in intensity. Some may describe a life altering encounter with Jesus as a defining pivot point in their lives, while others may have simply had a more common, vague sense of oneness as their religious experience. Regardless of the specific details, the accounts of personal religious experience are worth examining.  In this short essay, we will examine how psychology and religion interact in areas such as in a community, on an individual level, and from a cultural perspective.

According to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, religion springs from the basic urge of conscious things to know themselves. Religion in this view is a collection of knowledge and suppositions about the world. In this way, religion can serve as a useful tool for human groups to understand themselves in order to more effectively govern themselves. Religion provides a socially agreed upon basic core of knowledge as well as a code of ethics and correct behavior that helps groups of people more easily function amicably together. It also provides a motor for enacting social change. If an argument can be made that invokes the agreed upon religion, it can be seen as more believable and legitimate.

Another prominent psychologist involved in the study of religion was Alfred Adler. According to his view, religion, as a social movement, can be compared favorably against science because of its superior efficacy in motivating change within groups. Religion is more readily usable as an engine for social change because it is more able to inspire strong feelings within large groups in comparison with science. Science may be more effective at introducing changes to society and common presuppositions about the world in a more gradual, more methodical sense.

            Another interesting facet to religion is how it is used by the individual. To some, religion is genuinely experienced, something they can earnestly connect with. To others, religion is interacted with more as a tool to make gains in other areas of life, for example a person who goes to church to reap the social benefits of being a part of a community. In this scenario, religion is, more than anything else, a utility, something valued as a means to reach other goals. How individuals experience and utilize religion differs wildly from person to person.

            Religion and Psychology clearly experience a sort of overlay, since religion is theoretically meant to alter/improve the human mind and even at its worst is very capable at causing action as groups, and psychology is interested in understanding the cause of human actions. For this reason, it should come as no surprise that religion is a large area for psychological study and inquiry. Religion is so intricate and comprises so many areas of human community that ongoing study into the nature of religious impact on human society is required. Psychology is at the least one effective means through which we can find more understanding of religious beliefs and experiences.

Sources Cited:

“Religious vs. Spiritual Essay.” Religious vs. Spiritual Essay - 1368 Words | Bartleby, www.bartleby.com/essay/Religious-vs-Spiritual-F3CUSBKCTJ.

University of Notre Dame. “Notre Dame and UNC-Chapel Hill Philosophers to Examine Religious and Transformative Experiences.” Notre Dame News, 30 June 2014, news.nd.edu/news/notre-dame-and-unc-chapel-hill-philosophers-to-examine-religious-and-transformative-experiences/.

“Everyday Religion.” Google Books, books.google.com/books?id=DBGjoeHc_ZEC&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=besecke%2B2007%2Bbeyond%2Bliteralism&q=&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false.