Psychology of Religion
I believe that religion and spirituality play a major role in the understanding of human behavior. Religion and spirituality have been apart of human experience throughout the course of history, tapping into almost every aspect of life from cultural beliefs to the arts. Religion and spirituality encompass a world that goes beyond our general understanding of how and why by attaching a higher overall purpose and meaning that extends outside of our lives here on earth. I do not believe that an adequate psychological understanding of most people cannot be accomplished in the absence of religion and or spirituality. Science for example gives adequate answers to occurrences in nature, which is bound by biological and physical laws. On the other hand science has trouble explaining(by itself) the psychological make up of people such as beliefs, behaviors, and experiences, as they do not adhere to the laws of nature. Our psychological realm is composed of abstract and complicated ideas, concepts and questions that seek a higher understanding than what can be explained by nature alone. This is where religion and spirituality comes into play as it offers us potential answers and understanding to our complicated abstract thoughts and ideas that we find unanswered by nature such as what is our purpose in life? Where do I go when I die? And is there an ultimate reason why things happen? Starbuck's either or philosophy states that religion can be understood from either a religious, spiritual explanation or a naturalistic psychological explanation but not both. I do not agree with Starbuck's philosophy. I believe that religion and spirituality are very closely related to our psychological makeup and thus they cannot be separated especially when trying to understand and explain religion. As I stated earlier I think that our psychological makeup is what generates abstract concepts and ideas in the first place and this in turn leads people to religion/spirituality in order to