Religion and growth in resilience : strategies to counter cognitive attacks

Abstract

Stereotypes frequently associate religion with rigid beliefs, pathological behaviors, or a moral code that, according to critics, engenders guilt, limits personal freedom (Nietzsche), and alienates individuals from authentic lived experience (Marx and Freud). Historically, religion has often been reduced and explained through various perspectives across different disciplines, often leading to psychological, neurological, evolutionary, and socio-functional reductionism (Fischer, 2007). From this perspective, religiosity is construed as harmful as it purportedly detaches individuals from reality. Such views, rooted in 19th century critiques, are epitomized in Marx’s famous description of religion as “the opium of the people,” from his 1844 A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (Pedersen, 2015). This assertion suggests that religion distorts reality through projections shaped by human needs. However, recent reflections on religion and its role in social life—often contrary to secularist predictions of its decline or extinction (Casanova, 2007; Riesebrodt, 2014)—have highlighted its resilience and the diverse benefits it offers. These benefits, while reflecting changes or redefinitions of religiosity itself, include significant contributions to individual well-being (Oviedo, 2023), mental health, and coping mechanisms. Religion has been associated with lower suicide rates, better mental health care, effective stress management, and even mitigation of the effects of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease (Koenig, 1997; Riepenhausen et al., 2022).