Alvin Plantinga Warned Us
The APA Didn't Listen
Parents of potential philosopy majors, do you want your student learning how to critically think about assumptions? Then programs that support the American Philosohpical Association are not for you. And the APA makes it clear that questioning assumptions about sexual identity is unsafe.
When I attended my very first meeting of the American Philosophical Association as a graduate student, there was one book that everyone was talking about. That was Plantinga’s “Warranted Christian Belief.” Plantinga had been the president of the APA’s Western Division in 1981-82. He is arguably the most influential philosopher of religion in the past 40 years. His “Warranted” is a critical analysis of the Marx-Freud religion and a devastating reply to the assumptions of that religion. As apologists for atheism, these two pseudo-scientists argue against Christianity by saying it is due to a mental disorder. They argue that their religious system is the only way to a truly healthy individual and society; everyone else has a “phobia.”
Plantinga, in his “Warranted Christian Belief” (Oxford UP, 2000), explains the Marxist/Freudian religious critique this way:
“As we have seen, atheologians (those who argue against Christian belief) have often claimed that Christian belief is irrational; so far, we have failed to find a sensible version of this claim. But perhaps we can make progress by exploring the animadversions on Christian belief proposed by Freud, Marx, and the whole cadre of their nineteenth- and twentieth-century followers” (136).
As I have been detailing, Freud uses an origin story borrowed from a naive version of Darwinism to explain the evolution of religion from simple social conditions.
“There are several sides to Freud’s critique of religion. For example, he was fascinated by what he saw as the Darwinian picture of early human beings coming together in packs or herds (like wolves or elk), all the females belonging to one powerful, dominant, jealous male” (137).
Freud tells us that the Christian religion is wish fulfillment and becomes a delusion that hinders healthy integration into reality. “The idea is that theistic belief arises from a psychological mechanism Freud calls ‘wish-fulfillment’” (139). This process becomes unhealthy when it prevents an individual or society from dealing with the truths of reality taught by materialism.
According to Freud, the “modern person” must recognize that Christianity is mere wish fulfillment and learn to integrate their mind into reality. This includes freeing themselves from sexual laws imposed by parents or traditional religion and giving free expressions to their sexual desires. It requires overthrowing that primordial patriarchy.
We all know that Marx called religion the opiate of the masses. And fideistic religion has been used that way, including Marx’s own religion. According to Marx, Christianity is one of the mechanisms of oppression, and a true revolution requires atheism. Marxists believe that Christians suffer from a mental problem and need to be re-educated.
“Marx suggests that religion arises from perverted world consciousness-perverted from a correct, or right, or natural condition. Religion involves a cognitive dysfunction, a disorder or perversion that is apparently brought about, somehow, by an unhealthy and perverted social order. Religious belief, according to Marx, is a result of cognitive dysfunction, of a lack of mental and emotional health” (141).
In other posts, I have connected the practice of announcing one’s pronouns or asking others to do so as a manifestation of the Marx-Freud religion. We agree that in public spaces including public education individual religions should not be promoted as the only way to understand the world. Instead, in public spaces we value the ability to think critically and examine assumptions.
The American Philosophical Association is now advocating the Marx-Freud religion in pleading with people to adopt the practice of stating pronouns. The idea that one’s pronouns are different than biological sex is not a neutral belief. It is a belief that rests on assumptions about the world. The Secular Academy resists questioning those assumptions. The mere act of questing will get you labeled as hateful and full of “phobias.” The APA does not offer alternative views of sex and gender with pleading messages. Only this one. It presents this as the way to understand gender.
Notice that the sign says the stickers can be worn to show solidarity and by doing this the APA is made a friendly and safe environment. Solidarity with what? With the view that gender and biological sex are not the same and that a person’s gender is whatever they think it is at the time. This APA poster labels all alternative understandings of sexuality as unsafe and unfriendly. The meaning is clear: alternatives make the APA unsafe and must not be tolerated.
Are philosophers still allowed to question assumptions? Will the APA coerce those who attend into adopting the Marx-Freud religion? Plantinga warned us.
.