Starting with Freud’s “projection theory” of religion-that belief in God is merely a product of man’s desire for security. Vitz argues that psychoanalysis actually provides a more satisfying explanation for atheism. Disappointment in one’s earthly father, whether through death, absence, or mistreatment, frequently leads to a rejection of God. A biographical survey of influential atheists of the past four centuries shows that this “defective father hypothesis” provides a consistent explanation of the “intense atheism” of these thinkers. A survey of the leading intellectual defenders of Christianity over the same period confirms the hypothesis, finding few defective fathers. Professor Vitz concludes with an intriguing comparison of male and female atheists and a consideration of other psychological factors that can contribute to atheism. Professor Vitz does not argue that atheism is psychologically determined. Each man, whatever his experiences, ultimately chooses to accept God or reject him. Yet the cavalier attribution of religious faith to irrational, psychological needs is so prevalent that an exposition of the psychological factors predisposing one to atheism is necessary. ~ Book Description

More Reviews

• “Book Review”, by Tony Dalmyn at BlogCritics Magazine (April 05, 2005)
• “Atheism and Fatherlessness” by Father Brian Van Hove, S.J
• “A Review”, by Bill Muehlenberg at CultureWatch (March 16, 2002).

Table of Contents

• Preface    xi
• Chapter One
  • Intense Atheism    3
  • The Projection Theory of Belief in God    6
  • Freud’s Unacknowledged Theory of Unbelief    9
  • A New Theory of Atheism: The Defective Father Hypothesis    15
• Chapter Two
  • Atheists and Their Fathers    17
  • Dead Fathers    20
  • Friedrich Nietzsche    20
  • David Hume    25
  • Bertrand Russell    26
  • Jean-Paul Sartre    28
  • Albert Camus    31
  • Arthur Schopenhauer    32
  • Abusive and Weak Fathers    34
  • Thomas Hobbes    34
  • Jean Meslier    36
  • Voltaire    38
  • Jean d’Alembert    40
  • Baron d’Holbach    42
  • Ludwig Feuerbach    43
  • Samuel Butler    44
  • Sigmund Freud    47
  • H. G. Wells    48
  • Minor Atheists    51
  • John Toland    51
  • Richard Carlile    53
  • Robert Taylor    54
  • Contemporary Atheists    54
  • Madalyn Murray O’Hair    54
  • Albert Ellis    55
• Chapter Three
  • Theists and Their Fathers    58
  • Blaise Pascal    59
  • George Berkeley    60
  • Joseph Butler    62
  • Thomas Reid    62
  • Edmund Burke    64
  • Moses Mendelssohn    67
  • William Paley    69
  • William Wilberforce    69
  • Francois Rene de Chateaubriand    71
  • Friedrich Schleiermacher    72
  • John Henry Newman    73
  • Alexis de Tocqueville    75
  • Samuel Wilberforce    77
  • Soren Kierkegaard    78
  • Baron Friedrich von Hugel    81
  • G. K. Chesterton    82
  • Albert Schweitzer    85
  • Martin Buber    86
  • Karl Barth    88
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer    89
  • Abraham Heschel    91
• Chapter Four
  • Extensions and Qualifications    94
  • Substitute Fathers    94
  • Don Bosco    95
  • Hilaire Belloc    98
  • Walker Percy    100
  • Political Atheists    104
  • Joseph Stalin    104
  • Adolf Hitler    105
  • Mao Zedong    107
  • The Atheist Father as a Positive Influence    107
  • Men and Women: Some Differences    109
  • Simone de Beauvoir    113
  • Ayn Rand    116
  • Jill Johnston    118
  • Kate Millett    120
  • Exceptions    122
  • Denis Diderot    122
  • Karl Marx    124
  • Other Psychologies of Unbelief    126
• Chapter Five
  • Superficial Atheism: A Personal Account    130
  • General Socialization    134
  • Specific Socialization    135
  • Personal Independence    136
  • Personal Convenience    136
  • Another Exemplary Case    137
• Chapter Six
  • Conclusions    139
  • Intelligence, Ambition, and Will    140
  • The Complete Model    143
• Notes    149
• Index    166