06/24/04

Major Challenges to Religion (and Christianity in particular) at the turn of the twentieth-century

These summaries are just that: summaries.  A complete understanding of these arguments would require the readings of the primary texts in which these authors make their arguments.  Most of the information on Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud below is taken from About.com, a website that utilizes experts in a range of fields to speak to various topics in our culture.  These entries are written by experts who often offer their opinion through tone and even sometimes straight up commentary.  Therefore, you may notice that some seem to agree with these authors.  That doesn't necessarily diminish the accuracy of the presentation; they know the material.  Also, you need to understand that what is presented here is a summary of their arguments, not the arguments themselves.  It would be impossible to judge the full merit of these philosophers positions without seeing the methods by which they arrived at such positions.  I will say this much: everyone of these philosophers presents reasonable and responsible arguments as to the origin and purpose of religion.  That doesn't make them right, but it does mean that they are not easily dismissed.

Religion as the Opium of the Masses-Karl Marx

The Death of God-Friedrich Nietzsche

The Futility of Religious Apologetics-Sigmund Freud

A Challenge from Bertrand Russell