Religion, Narcissism and Fanaticism: The Arrogance of Gods - Tamas Pataki

Published by Routledge [London and New York] 2024

ISBN: 978-1-032-72494-2

Reviewed by Paul Schimmel

Tamas Pataki is Honorary Senior Fellow in philosophy at the University of Melbourne. The reader of this book will become aware of the extraordinary range of Pataki’s knowledge not only of philosophy, but of psychoanalysis, prehistory, history, anthropology and religion.

As the title suggests, Pataki argues that ‘the maintenance of the narcissistic economy is a fundamental motive to religious commitment.’ (p. 142) In other words, believers believe what they believe because it is comfortable and reassuring to do so; it stabilizes their personalities by offering certainty, which is continuously reinforced by membership of a religious group of likeminded individuals.

The book begins with conjectures about the prehistoric emergence of belief in spirits and animism. Pataki points out that, ‘in essentials they [spirits] are just like us’ (p. 42) because of the anthropomorphic tendency to projection. 

Following this insight, chapter 3 advances ‘the idea that the modes of achieving communion with gods and spirits are essentially the same as the modes available in human-to-human relationships, including, importantly, narcissistic relationships.’ (p. 48) Consistent with psychoanalytic theory Pataki argues that human-to-god relationships are likely to be based substantially on the unconscious representations of ‘real parental objects’ to which we are still attached, and to aspects of the self (p. 50).

He traces the emergence of monotheism and the consequences of this, pointing out how belief in a single omniscient and omnipotent god figure predisposed to and engendered a sense guilt. ‘Guilt towards God, as Nietzsche observed, becomes a new instrument of self-torture. Religious persecution, unknown before monotheism, becomes as common as rain.’ (p. 57) Those judged heretical within Christianity were cruelly persecuted, and monotheism likewise leads to an attitude of superiority towards other competing religions. Power and control become crucial factors in the determination of who has the true faith and who is judged a heretic.

Pataki explores the enlightenment, which attachment theory and psychoanalysis can bring to the understanding of religious belief. He quotes Granqvist who observed that in cultures where parenting is harsh and rejecting, gods tend to be wrathful and punitive, in contrast cultures where parenting is warm and accepting tend to have more loving gods. ‘But there is an important exception. Where parental attachment figures are unsatisfactory or worse, divine figures may become surrogates’, offering a secure attachment. (p. 62)

In Part II of his book titled ‘Polemic’, Pataki states his atheistic position, ‘I believe there are no grounds to doubt the non-existence of gods or spirits, but it is imaginable that there could be.’ (p. 87)

He goes on to differentiate the origin of different forms of belief and defines his use of the terms fundamentalism and fanaticism, suggesting they may be understood as ‘expressions of religiously shaped narcissistic character (or personality) disorders.’ (p. 96) 

In chapter 6 ‘Religion and morality’ he argues ‘Fanatics and Fundamentalists believe that God legislates moral law.’ (p. 115) He suggests that since the advent of monotheism the domains of religion and morality have become hopelessly entangled in the minds of most people. ‘The monotheistic distortion of human reality is particularly profound and pernicious in the area of sexual morality.’ (p. 105) Pataki argues that the fear of and need to control women exists in cultures untouched by the Bible but is certainly reinforced by the Bible. The religiously based hatred of homosexuality has contributed to the cruel persecution of many. 

Chapter 7 is titled ‘Aggression in religion’. Pataki quotes Christopher Hitchens’ view, with which he is in sympathy, that religion is ‘violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive towards children.’

Pataki becomes more assertive as his book draws to a close. ‘Several recent revisionary works…. have argued the essential amity between science and religion…. I think this is nonsense on stilts.’ (p. 146) The use of reason is considered the only way out of the quagmire of religion, but reason has been given a bad press. ‘Luther says that reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith faces. “Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason.”’ (p. 147) In this erudite and scholarly work Pataki employs reason with devastating impact on religious presumptions and certainties.

His conclusion: ‘The religious evasion of reality is a dangerous dereliction of love of the world.’

Pataki argues that belief in the existence of a god is often a delusional state. Although this belief in a god cannot be easily disproved, it is an extremely unlikely proposition. This book will be welcomed by atheists and of great interest to agnostics and those with an open mind about the question. Unfortunately, it may be eschewed by many believers, because believers, as Pataki astutely argues, tend towards absolute and unquestioning belief. 

Although several of the atheistic perspectives Pataki expounds are not new, the theoretical structure that he constructs from anthropological, psychoanalytic and philosophical conceptions is quite novel. The outstanding feature of this book is the way the author draws on his vast erudition and his capacity for reason to bring them into a convincing coherence. It is truly a tour de force and I highly recommend it to you.