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WalesReligious StudiesQuick questions
Philosophy of Religion (Units 2 and 5)
Quick questions on Atheism, Freud and Jung, and secularism - WJEC A-Level Religious Studies
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
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The crucial evaluative question is whether the psychological and social explanations of religion are debunking or merely descriptive. Freud clearly intended his account to debunk: if God is a projection of the child's need for a father, then theology is the elaboration of a wish, and the rational response is to grow out of it. But the inference from "belief has a psychological cause" to "the belief is false" commits the genetic fallacy: showing why someone holds a belief is not the same as showing the belief untrue, just as the fact that mathematicians have psychological motives does not make mathematics false.
What is q1?Show answer
What is the difference between negative and positive atheism? [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
What did Freud mean by calling religion an "illusion"? [2 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Evaluate the view that the psychology of religion proves that God does not exist. [20 marks]
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