A Debate: Believing in God is Psychologically Healthy

1
A Debate Believing in God is Psychologically
Healthy

• Daniel, Annie, Chase, and John. AKA Group 5

2
The Not Perspective

• Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.-Thomas
  Paine
• -Sometimes one can be led toward negative
  tendencies.
• Denying oneself of healthy pursuits such as
  finding love, starting a career, etc.
• One may come to bias, or favoring certain people
  based on their beliefs, and whether or not they
  coincide with ones own.

3
Still Not

• Looking back through history
• -Crusades
• -Inquisitions
• -Native American culture destruction
• Not exactly the coolest events!
• What this means is

4
Assumption?

• When people think they know what God is saying,
  and that everyone else is wrongbad things
  happen. i.e. previous page.
• People believe so strongly in something that they
  condemn, torture, and kill other people,
  sometimes in mass quantities.

5
Mixed Messages

• As an example, Christianity God is described as
  being wrathful and punishing, an angry being.
• God is described as being a kind, loving, and
  benevolent being.
• Are you confused? Some people tend to get that
  way.

6
Fear A Powerful Tool?

• Belief in a wrathful God can lead an individual
  to unhealthy levels of fear.
• To do what God wants, people have to deny
  themselves, and they feel guilty if they are
  unable to do so.
• Corrupt people can use God as a means of personal
  gain and power at the expense of others.

7
Intermission/Idyllic Phase
8
Ok, now for Is Perspective

• One who believes in God is aware of the depth in
  life and has a passion for living.
• Individuals not believing in God tend to have a
  hunger or hole in their lives.

9
Healing

• Belief in God tends to work when nothing else is
  going right.
• Provides comfort. Everythings gonna be ok.
• Therapeutic.

10
Freud

• Father of psychoanalysis, believed religion to be
  fully psychological, a neurosis we create for
  ourselves because we cannot cope without.

11
Carl Jung-famous psychologist

• Believed that a religious perspective was so
  vital in his patients that he could not treat
  them without.
• WOW.

12
If God is merciful

• People are taught to mimic the goodness of God,
  to be compassionate, merciful, and forgiving.
• And this is healthy.
• ?

13
Believing In God Via Spirituality

• Spiritual people tend to be less stressed, have
  better health, and live longer lives as a result.

14
Meaning

• Believing in God and what he stands for provides
  a meaning for living, and gives direction for an
  individuals life to take.

Her life has meaning!
15
Works Cited
Elkins, David. Spirituality. 1999. Psychology
Today. 18 Oct. 2004 lthttp//cms.psychologytoday.co
m/articles Schaffer, Art. Six Avoidance of
Negatives. 1987-2004. Eclectic Church. 18 Oct.
2004 http//eclecticchurch.org/