Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism

by whereami 17 Replies latest jw friends

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  whereami

  Has anyone ever read this?

  Most Atheists come from a family where the father was missing, dead, weak or abusive. Paul C. Vitz has written a very interesting book entitled Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism (Spence, 1999).

  

  How one views God is directly related to how your relationship with your father was. If your father was distant than God will feel distant. If you hated your father, you will most likely have hatred for God. This is the case with Madalyn Murray O'Hair and many other Atheists.
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  HintOfLime

  At least in my case, my father and I were, and still are pretty close. We spent over 10 years in business together, and talk every few days on the phone (in spite of his being a JW elder and my being an athiest).

  Meh. Generalizations.

  - Lime
• 

  mraimondi

  i had a horrid relationship with my father and yet "drew close to god" -

  and now, im ambivalent.

  fuck that.
• 

  jaguarbass

  With my father. I was always trying to get through but he didnt respond.

  So I guess that's like my god.

  And then my father was like Jeckle and Hyde.

  So I guess thats like my God.

  But I did have a father.

  So I call myself agnostic.

  Because I cant decide, while I have weighed the facts and datta.

  I'm left with a hung jury.

  I can see where there is lots of circumstancial evidence that there is no God.

  And I can see that there is lots of circumstancial evience that there is a God.

  But since no one can convince me one way or the other, I cant convince anyone else

  one way or the other.

  So I am stuck in agnostic land.

  There is a saying no god no peace. Know God know peace.

  And some days I fake it that I believe.

  And some days I have peace.

  I'm left with some kind of mental illness that no one can help.

  If I was hearing voices they could give me something.

  If I was paranoid they could give me something.

  But I cant decide and theres nothing for that.
• 

  The-Borg

  Bullshit
• 

  hamsterbait

  This crap is basically saying that belief in God depends on having some kind of relationship with your father. This means that all the gods people worship are just projections of our psychological states.

  Whoever dreamed up the Jewish god must have had one hell of an evil abusive daddy, who also handed out cuddles and candy when you flattered him nicely.

  Ever heard of deductive logic? God doesnt like it.

  HB
• 

  whereami

  Yeah i agree, I'd like to see his research proving " Most Atheists come from a family where the father was missing, dead, weak or abusive"

  I call BS
• 

  Witness 007

  Me and my friend were fatherless....both became right wing Witnesses for years..both slowly left.....I think this is a crap theory.
• 

  cameo-d

  Hamsterbait: "{book promotes that}worship are just projections of our psychological states.

  Whoever dreamed up the Jewish god must have had one hell of an evil abusive daddy"

  I read the scoop at Amazon and I can tell you from my pov it is lame. It gives all shrinks a bad name. I think the assumption of the premise is faulty from the start. This book will probably be a big flop. It's not even supposed to come out until Dec. 09. If the publishers have any sense, they would cut and run now---save money and face while you can!
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  PrimateDave

  From what I can Google I think that Vitz' focus is on the "militant" atheists-intellectuals of the past couple of centuries in comparison to their theistic counterparts. I get the impression that the book is an academic effort.

  As a non-militant agnostic-atheist all I can say is that I have a father who was always there in my youth. While we were never as close as I have seen some father-son relationships, we were by no means antagonistic. Our relationship has generally improved over the years. While "God" was always present in name and through the actions of a book and magazine publishing company, He was unabie to respond to prayers or provide any evidence of existence independent of human support. It just seemed natural to stop going through the motions of expressing belief and "worship."

  Dave