PSC 170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Intentionality, Religious Naturalism, Dalai Lama
5/3/18 – MISTERM REVIEW
Statistics
• 80% – belong to a religion
• 67% to 73% – relative growth
o 1980-2015 world wide
Some Questions
• Of the following, which is the most religious country:
o United States
o Iraq
o Japan
o Fiji
• Of the following, which country has the highest percentage of atheists?
o China
o United States
o Germany
o Australia
True or False
• Women are more religious than men. True
• Children believe in God because they are taught to by their parents. False
o 44% of children end up adopting different religious affiliations in adulthood.
• One-third of people in the U.S. believe they have been protected by a guardian angel. False
• Only people who are personally religious study religion scientifically. False
The job of psychology:
• To know what religion is psychologically.
• Ho a peso’s faith opeates
• What does religion cause people to do?
• Psychologists of religion must recognize their limits.
Empirical Questions
• Eternal life is a free gift from God.
• People who regularly attend religious services live loger tha those ho do’t.
• God hears all of our prayers
• People pray b/c they believe God is personally concerned about them.
• Most people want to go to heaven.
• Heave is a place of perpetual bliss.
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• God eads those ho seep spiitual tuth iplatig the light of logig i thei heats.
• The highest and most notable attainment in the spiritual life is loving God and loving others.
o Can come to an agreement among people.
• The unity of meaning and pleasure, which we experience as joy, is given w/ the God who is love.
• Egagig i religious practices proides a sese of eaig ad produces joy i people’s lies.
• There is a divine or transcendent source of the human urge to engage in spiritual practices.
• Spiritual practices help people feel close to God.
• Relationship to God belongs to the very makeup of human beings
• People who experience a secure attachment to God are less depressed than those who feel
that God has abandoned them.
Joy vs Happiness
• Jo is uh igge tha happiess. While happiess is ofte see as eig depedet o
external circumstances, joy is not.
o Happiness is a state and joy is a trait.
• It aiates life ad ultiatel leads to a life of satisfatio ad eaig. p
Dalai Llama
• …as i siee so i Buddhis, udestadig the atue of ealit is pusued eas of
critical investigation: if scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in
Buddhis to e false, the e ust aept the fidigs of siee ad aado those lais.
• If science showed that something in Buddhism is wrong, he would drop those beliefs. Not
everyone agrees with this.
Historically, religion has been described by psychologists as:
• Irrational and pathological
• Punitive and exploitative
• Dangerously illusory/ delusional
• A pathway to the highest of human potentials
• A source of harmony and wholeness
• A basis of wisdom and maturity
• Idea of why psychologists disregarded religion.
o Generally both were competing for consumers.
▪ Either pick the priests or psychologists.
Freud Says:
• Thought of religion as childish. People looking for a father-figure in the sky.
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• Only such a being can understand the needs of the children of men and be softened by their
prayers and placated by the signs of their remorse. The whole thing is so patently infantile, so
foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that
the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life.
Aothe Fae: It’s Oka to e Childish
• What about adults who come to belief in God after not believing as children?
• Many beliefs begin in childhood and continue into adulthood.
• Just because a belief begins in adulthood does not make the belief true.
Surveys of >1M in 163 nations:
• 80% belong to organized religious faith.
• 74% say that religion is important part of daily life.
• 50% have attended place of worship in past seven days.
• % eliee that God is dietl ioled i thigs that happe i the old.
• In few nations do as many as 5% claim to be atheists, only in Vietnam, China and South Korea do
atheists exceed 20%.
Size of Major Religions Groups, 2010
• Christians – 31.5%
• Muslims – 23.2%
• Hindus – 15%
The Prevalence of Belief (In United States)
• 96% Believe in God or higher power
• 89% Believe in heaven
• 79% Believe in miracles
• 73% Believe in hell
• 68% Believe in the Devil
• 90% Pray
• 35% Have attended church in last 7 days
According to a recent survey of college and university students:
• 73% say that religious/spiritual beliefs helped develop their personality.
• 70% said they had attended religious services in the past year.
• 78% had discussed religion or spirituality with friends.
• 62% report that their professors never encourage discussion of religious/spiritual issues.
• Spirituality is obviously something people think about a lot, but it is not discussed in academia.
Conclusions
• Many students with religious and spiritual problems do not seek help from university counseling
centers but go elsewhere.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Statistics: 80% belong to a religion, 67% to 73% relative growth, 1980-2015 world wide. Some questions: of the following, which is the most religious country, united states. Japan: fiji, of the following, which country has the highest percentage of atheists, china, united states, germany, australia. True or false: women are more religious than men. True: children believe in god because they are taught to by their parents. False: 44% of children end up adopting different religious affiliations in adulthood, one-third of people in the u. s. believe they have been protected by a guardian angel. False: only people who are personally religious study religion scientifically. The job of psychology: to know what religion is psychologically, ho(cid:449) a pe(cid:396)so(cid:374)"s faith ope(cid:396)ates, what does religion cause people to do, psychologists of religion must recognize their limits. Joy vs happiness (cid:862)jo(cid:455) is (cid:373)u(cid:272)h (cid:271)igge(cid:396) tha(cid:374) happi(cid:374)ess.
