How Human Psychology Shapes the Idea of God | Dr. Luke Galen

In this video Dr. Luke Galen explains why believers often project their own thoughts and desires onto God. His book, "Why God Thinks Like You," explores how individual psyches and cognitive traits shape religious beliefs. Learn how personal experiences and needs influence perceptions of God through psychological experiments and real-world examples.

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About Luke Galen:
Luke Galen is a professor of psychology at Grand Valley State University. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Wayne State University. His main area of research and teaching focuses on the psychology of religion. He is currently researching the psychology of secularity and nonreligious individuals especially in regards to moral behavior. He also studies the process of religious change from fundamentalism to apostasy.

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[thehistoryprof]

I come from a large Catholic family of six children and my twin sister and I were in the middle of the pack. All were sent to parochial schools 1st thru 12 until the last 3 of us. And I remember my parents sitting down with me and my sister in 7th grade saying we are taking you out of the Catholic school system and putting you in the local public school. The reason being they were concerned we were being BRAINWASHED. This was in the sixties and I now know they were way ahead of their time.

[abvincent]

Religion is an example of how a rumor can morph into utter nonsense and linger around forever continually being changed to fit the narrative at that time. It’s like pixie dust.

[A.I.Silicate]

Interesting how a person’s perception of God can be reflective of a person’s relationship with their parents.

[louisnemzer]

I think many believers are wildly inconsistent about when they claim to know what God "wants" or "thinks". Sometimes they will be adamant they know which actions He approves of or doesn't, while at other times will retreat towards, "He works in mysterious ways etc."

[saltspringdesign]

This is one of the best, most lucid, astute, explanatory and well substantiated arguments that humans create gods and not the other way around. Thank you for making this video ❤

[bobertjones]

Explains how i became just aware enough to deprogram myself from religion while retaining many moral beliefs without the concept of deity rewarding or punishing me. The good news is that each has way more autonomy than religion ever acknowledges.

[userp]

"God" is a figment of an individual believer's imagination, with no external existence at all beyond said imagination.

[wetluggage]

As a nonbeliever who has nonetheless been deeply immersed in christian culture for over five decades, I wholeheartedly endorse this video. The explanation of god-as-projection is razor-sharp accurate.

[SickPuppet-wx]

People create God(s) in their own image.

[captainsouth]

Because it's their mental safety blanket.

[greghelton]

I used to visit San Francisco on occasion and was always perplexed and fascinated by people carrying out full conversations with a phantom friend. To them the friends were real. Of course “normal” people thought of such people as being crazy.

But yet a majority of people in our nation believe in a bearded deity who lives somewhere in the sky and dictates every move we make. Most even think they talk to that deity on a regular basis. Yet those people are considered to be normal. .

[mysunnybird]

I was raised in the most strict Catholic Religion, but when I was about 12 y/o, I started to question all those ideas. Later on, when I realized I could not talk to my parents or any family member about it, I silently became an Atheist. I don't believe in god or in the virgen Maria, or in any of those millions of saints, angels or arcargeles, and about all those crazy stories about hell and heaven, etc. etc. etc. THANK GOD or that we have a spirit inside our bodies, and I am so pleased that I don't suffer from the anxiety that when I die, I was going to go to hell, or Purgatory, or Limbo, etc. etc. I came to the conclusion that instead of the 10 commandments, there should be only one: 'Don't do to others what you don't want to be done on to you" Period.

[Nick-sfh]

I personally like the evolutionary explanation of how religion developed as a way for human beings to cope with their environment.

[billshearer]

I read once years ago a psychiatrist said that religion is a “mild delusion” I don’t think it’s so mild. It scares me to death to think that people leading the world believe this nonsense. I guess I’m lucky because my BS meter is always running. I was asked to leave Sunday school at six years old for asking all the “right “questions. No brag, just fact. Ask my mother. L O L.

[nr]

As a child, I was told that we don't celebrate Christmas because it has a pagan origin, so I thought anything that is pagan must be bad. As an adult, I learned that paganism existed before Christianity, the worship of nature. Before the Council of Nicea in 325 AD when they decided Christianity would be the only acceptable religion, their monopoly on religion. A man made religion full of contradictions and nonsense like in Revelations where it says stars will fall on earth, it's not possible, stars are many times bigger. And those scriptures ignored in church which are only there to control people, like Exodus 21:20-21 and 1st Timothy 2:12.

[somersetcace]

That's part of the problem with arbitrarily cramming together 66+ books (depending denomination, ) arbitrarily broken up into verses and calling it the word of a god. You can make it say just about anything you want just by stringing the right verses together. People have been doing it for centuries. They are convinced that their interpretation is correct, and it's everyone else who is wrong, deceived, corrupted, etc.

[pfrydog]

Religion is a way of controlling others that need to be controlled apparently.

[radosawszmid]

A few years ago, I abandoned Catholicism and Christianity and became a free man. I feel great about it. As an independent person, a critical thinker and an individualist, all I can say is that there are no longer arguments that believers can use to convince me to change my thinking.

[mryorkshire]

You can't debate or reason with someone who believes in a god. They twist and wriggle in their effort to hang on to their belief.

[darthvirgin]

it’s NARCISSISM at the very core.

….think about the idea that an ALL-POWERFUL, practically OMNIPOTENT being created a NEAR infinite universe…actually cares about the life and mundane goings on of a single individual that might as well be as insignificant as a single bacteria. this will make that individual feel important.

that’s why it boils down to narcissism.