Posted by
BKW26 on Thursday, September 14, 2006 12:48:52 AM
“God is your crutch!” Has anyone ever heard this before? I think this saying was first pushed by Sigmund Freud or Carl Marx, I'm not sure. Whenever somebody say this, its often meant that you cannot face the real world, and you invoke this "God" to shield you from the way the world actually is. By appealing to this make-believe "God" you feel as though your life has purpose and meaning even though he exists only in your mind.
In making this statement the individual in question is claiming to KNOW that its you who is living in a false reality. He is making a distinction that YOU cannot face the world as it is, but HE can. I argue that Atheism is as much a religion as Christianity is, and so it is as much a system of thought as Christianity is. I acknowledge that there exists many different views of the world and life within Atheism just as there are within Christianity (an example being the Old Earth, Young Earth debate), but there are core beliefs that unite Christians as there are core beliefs that unite Atheists (namely that there is no God).
What I’m suggesting is that perhaps the man who says, “God is your crutch”, and in doing so rejects the idea of God, is actually the one who is rejecting the way the world really is. Could it be this man has erected his idea of Atheism like a roof over his head to shield him from the God of the universe? Now maybe the Christian is wrong and in fact there is no God that exists outside of his mind (I don’t believe this to be true), but the Atheist is the one who’s made the claim, he’s drawn the line and made the distinction. The idea that “God is your crutch” cuts both ways, so ask of your Atheist friend as he asks of you.