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Psychology and God

I have received several emails regarding the relationship between psychology and religion. The central point of this doubt can be said as follows: can a psychology professional believe in God? Does psychology necessarily imply atheism?

To fully answer such questions would take a long time or a long space, for it is possible to write a book to give a full and complete answer.

This text seeks to respond briefly to this question and, even though it is a small text and not a book, it seeks to be as broad as possible.

Psychology is a modern academic discipline. It was born in the 19th century, well after the emergence of the first scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology and shortly before that, sociology. Being an offshoot of research carried out with the perspective of science, it already has in itself a great separation of theological questions, that is, about God and man’s relationship with God.

The point that is important to note here is that on issues essential to theology, psychology is silent. Psychology seeks to answer specific questions about mental, emotional and affective, behavioral processes.

In other words, if you want to know about the origin of man, the universe, whether there is a God or gods, what is the path to spirituality, you will find answers not in psychology, but in theology – whatever current it may be.

For since the fifteenth century, with the emergence of physics, there has been a separation of knowledge in the Western world. On one side we find theology (with questions related to God, his revelation, the Bible) and on the other extreme, physics, which sought to understand our physical world, the laws of movement of bodies, that is, always particular, specific questions.

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For example, knowing that water evaporates at 100 degrees Celsius does not affect knowing whether or not God exists, right? It is a different type of answer, because a different type of question is asked.

Psychology used and still uses explanatory models, laboratory tests, paradigms that appeared earlier in other sciences. And, in the same way, we can say that knowing the probability of emitting a behavior, or analyzing a dream, or understanding the actions of a person in a group does not affect the knowledge of the existence or non-existence of a transcendent reality.

Therefore, psychology does not answer the question about God (or gods) because the question is not asked in its research.

Another question that is asked to me is about whether the psychology professional, in his office or work, can be religious and have a religion.

To answer, I like the following example: imagine you go to a dentist to treat a toothache. The dentist evaluates and needs to do a filling procedure. The patient can pray, meditate or do yoga, but he probably won’t do without anesthesia.

Anesthesia is a technical procedure used in both medicine and dentistry. It makes the patient feel no pain.

Likewise, if a patient arrives at a psychology professional’s office with a specific problem, he is seeking professional help. It may even help to pray, do meditation or Yoga, but the procedures used by the psychologist will be specific to the area of ​​knowledge and will have nothing to do with theological or religious knowledge.

So it is indifferent whether the psychology professional believes or does not believe in God. Psychology is not theology and, to say it again, it does not ask the same questions about being, about God and about man that the theologian, priest, priest or pastor does.

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And yet another question concerns the following. What if the psychology professional encounters a patient who has a different belief. For example, a professional who is an atheist and must care for a religious patient (whether Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist…)? Or the opposite could happen: what if a professional who is a professional but in his private life believes in a certain belief and must see a patient who is an atheist or who believes in something totally different?

Psychology has a Code of Ethics, a very well structured code of conduct. In addition to professional secrecy, a fundamental value for assistance is respect for the uniqueness, individuality and freedom of human beings – always aiming at the well-being of each individual and of the society in which we operate.

So, answering the questions: can a psychology professional believe in God? Does psychology necessarily imply atheism?

Yes, a psychology professional can believe in God, have a specific religious belief. But such a belief is private, part of your private life. It will not or should not affect your professional practice.

And regarding the other question: no. Psychology does not imply atheism. The knowledge gathered by psychology up to the present day is not a question that seeks to answer about the existence of God. For this reason, they do not imply atheism, just as they do not imply a certain religious belief.

Also read the continuation of the text here:
Psychology: Interpretation of religious phenomena

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