Psychological Effects of Religion by Nathaniel Branden Excellent, if only for those who are not religious…the faithful might even be offended by the book, never mind enjoy it

 Psychological Effects of Religion by Nathaniel Branden

Excellent, if only for those who are not religious…the faithful might even be offended by the book, never mind enjoy it

Nathaniel Branden is an acclaimed psychologist and wonderful author of the classic Six Pillars of Self Esteem.
There are other major works, mainly in the field of self- esteem for which he is mostly recognized as the most important authority.
He was also known in another way, for his relationship with another famous author and philosopher- Ayn Rand.
To try and come to the point- the book in question- is actually a series of four discussions on the theme in the title.
The verdict is guilty as charged.
The Psychological Effects of Religion are not just bad, but the author considers religion, especially the Christian one a calamity.
He has a point, if we only look at the tragedy of centuries of mass killings and torture, all in the name of faith.
There is an opposing vision and I am thinking of Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, who argues that spirituality- including religion- can bring about …happiness.
It is listed as one of the rules of wellbeing in the elating The How of Happiness, which is indeed not suggested to everyone.
Nathaniel Branden makes some excellent points in his indictment of religion, even if he is careful to say that in his practice, he does not discuss the subject, since people base their beliefs on “Faith „and you can’t real argue with that- in terms of evidence, scientific proof, etc.
-          What upsets the professor most?
-          The attitude, especially in the Catholic faith, towards sex as being wrong and only there for procreation
The idea of an all seeing Supreme Being that is always watching can have a terrible impact, if we consider that in most families the idea instilled from an early age, in a “disturbing attempt at educating the child”:
-          There is a god that sees Everything you do, all the bad things you do
And there are many other features, like if you desire the wife of another it is like you had intimate relations with her.
Then the fear that God can take your soul while you sleep, because of some sin, masturbating many years back for instance.
As the author says:
-          “If that would not be enough to cause insomnia, what would?”
A priest or nun would not be too happy to read that most of them enter their “profession „because of some impulse to act like they have the higher ground.
Nathaniel Branden is careful to avoid the mistake of Freud who used overgeneralization and says that not all, but probably most of the priests and nuns have that tendency or base for choosing their “calling”.
The Judaic faith comes out better, even if there are many aspects that the writer disagrees with there, on account of having a less aggressive attitude towards sex and not having a heaven and hell after death.
The fact that religious people believe in life after death is harmful, because they do not realize that this is all there is and so they do not dedicate all their energies to make the best they can over here, knowing there is a second chance does not help concentrating all the efforts on the “only one”.
Nathaniel Branden does not see a future for religion, which has not produced anything new or challenging for centuries.
The idea of original sin is bad, the fact that Christianity has degraded the position of women, which declined after the fall of the Roman Empire and the ascent of Christianity, with an established position of woman as responsible for tempting Adam out of the Garden of Eden.
-          What God is for man, man is for woman

That was the position of the church towards women and the author is of the opinion that not much has changed the same being true in the case of gay people, albeit the recent pope appeared to be more empathic.

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