[RJT]

This subject arose in another thread. It was claimed that psychological (I’ll call P for brevity) problems is one cause for many (most, all?) believers to take the path they do. This sounds good, but I see no proof for such a statement. In fact, I can certainly state the same for the atheists. Of course, one can talk about P problems for just about anything (and Freud pretty much does, yes?) But, that wasn’t the context. The point was made that folk come to believe, because they have P issues.

I can very easily see that Religion can cause P problems and perhaps often does. Guilt is an obvious, albeit relatively minor, example and suicide-bombers are an extreme case. But, I think people believing or arriving at their belief because they have P issues, as a blanket statement, is a leap. (Any more than marrying a red head versus a brunette is caused by P issues.) Indeed, I see evidence here on the forum that suggests that atheists often come to their decisions because of P issues:

Has anyone else noticed some of the bitterness some Atheists have with Religion? This seems to be the case with many former Christians. It seems something happened to them; whether it was their mother force-feeding Religion to them or perhaps some nun in kindergarten cracked their hands with a ruler. Anyway, it seems someone did some damage along the way. The cause is by someone, not Religion, per se.

So, the bottom line question is this: Do folk generally come to their beliefs out of some P need (to feel all warm and fuzzy, as Dr. kidluckee likes to say) any more than atheists arrive at their “conclusions” because of P reasons (e.g. Ego.)?