AHSS 2360 Study Guide - Comprehensive Final Exam Guide - Christianity, Judaism, Sin
21 Nov 2018
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Our belief in god is anthropological, based on projection. It fulfills human needs and has human attributes. We project our best selves on to god; we make god in our image. Our image of god is what we aspire to to be like god. Religion is still important as social glue, but it is not divinely inspired. Religion is all about explaining; explaining things that we observe or experience and do not immediately or intuitively understand. That is, there are spirits in everything and they live after bodily death. People feel alienation, and thus turn to the comforts of religion. Religion keeps people in their place ; furthers the interest of the capitalist classes. In the end, it is evil because it obstructs communism. Worship involves social unity, removal of alienation, existential security. It is community, not the specific forms of worship, ritual, and belief that matters. Religion is a great social good, providing both cohesion and control.
