Against Religion (Hardcover)

Against Religion applies a psychoanalytic perspective, though with several novel features, to the understanding of some important aspects of religions, particularly to fundamentalist religions. It acknowledges the good in religion, but argues that this is outweighed by the bad. Religious ideology, practices and institutions satisfy many human needs, including those arising from our hysterical, obsessional and narcissistic dispositions: the need to keep the good and bad aspects of our personalities separate; to feel special and belong to an idealized group; and to bask in the light of, or to identify with, a supposedly omnipotent figure. But these needs and the modes of their satisfaction may become distorted by religions and they may then nurture and accommodate malign characteristics. In this book Pataki argues that those characteristics most germane to understanding much of contemporary aggressive religiosity are best explained in terms of the interactions between religious ideology and narcissistic pathology. The manner in which religion enters into personal development and the ways in which religions can symbolically or delusorily satisfy the very needs they manufacture are explained, as well as the reasons for the continuing resurgence of religion in some parts of the globe. As a result, the book will appeal to researchers, academics and students interested in psychology, philosophy, sociology and, more generally, to those interested in the place of religion in the modern world.