Out of God's Closet: This Priest Pyschologist Chooses Friendly Atheism
by Stephen Frederick Uhl, Ph.D
Golden Rule Publishers, Oro Valley, Arizona, 2009, 190 PP, paper
by Michael Judge
We are all sinners. This postulate, one of the foundational dogmas of the Christian religion, is blindly accepted without question by its adherents. Why is that a bad thing? The problem is, it is part of a much larger process by which institutional religion degrades, demeans and belittles the human entity with the express purpose of creating feelings of worthlessness, weakness and, most significantly, guilt. Once this human feels sufficiently dejected, these organizations then, for the price of loyal lifelong support, promise protection from the sufferings of hell and guarantee the rewards of immortality and infinite happiness in heaven.
Stephen Uhl is exceptionally qualified to understand the strength and motives of the institutions and proselytizers that perpetuate religious myths and, more importantly, the effects and consequences to the individuals suffering from confusion and guilt nurtured by years of debasement. Uhl is a psychologist and former Roman Catholic priest. Each of these positions requires intimate personal contact with an individual’s emotional and psychological processes. As a psychologist, he has been able to help people identify, confront, and remedy their problems but as a priest he unintentionally confused, condemned and, eventually, controlled people. This benefited his religious institution but left them in a perpetual state of guilt.
In Out of God's Closet, Uhl attempts to make restitution by exposing the religious lies, thereby helping its victims shed their guilt. He begins with a brief summary of his journey to priesthood followed by his gradual “de-conversion.” Believing he was ‘destined to be of special service to God and his church,’ Uhl attended seminary and became a priest. Truly believing in the truths of his faith, he administered to his congregation with devotional passion. As time went on, however, he began having some doubts as to the validity of some of these “truths.” Even though the process was gradual, lacking any sudden revelation, Uhl says that, “When this spell broke for me, it was like the sun coming up in my life.”
So after twelve years as a priest he could no longer live the lie and resigned his position. He became a teacher, married, obtained a Ph.D. and spent the rest of his career as a psychologist. In this position he was able to repair some of the damage he once so enthusiastically contributed to during his years as a priest.
Uhl presents an excellent discussion on how people come to believe supernatural claims and why it can often be harmful to the individual. While the title uses the term “superstition,” Uhl’s emphasis is clearly on religion and, in his view, religion is simply a form of superstition. His concept of superstition is “belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.”
Uhl points out that prayer is simply a form of wishful thinking. Prayer works because of its hypnotic effect which gives the believer the strength and inspiration that helps them accomplish that which they are praying for.
Information and education are keys to overcoming the ignorance generated by superstition/religion and, in that context, he contrasts secular based and religion based teaching. He observes that, “A good teacher instills curiosity about facts in his students; a religion teacher too often demands rote memorization of manipulative catch phrases and passages from” religious texts. Uhl continues with, “The good teacher motivates students to ask why and why not; the God teacher demands unquestioning faith.”
An individual who, as a malleable child was indoctrinated with religious dogma, is often encouraged to spend excess time engaged in meaningless ceremony and traditions. As an example, in the Catholic religion, members are required to engage in multiple repetitions of the “Rosary, Apostles’ Creed, Hail Mary,” etc. This time and energy, uselessly wasted, could be employed in much more productive human and creative outlets.
While exceptionally insightful at the personal level, Uhl is less so when he extrapolates to societal dimensions. Here, his personal visions of a godless society lack the rational justifications he so competently employs elsewhere in the book. For example, a supporter of capital punishment, Uhl rails against the alternative sentence of life without parole. He makes unsubstantiated claims about the deterrence of capital punishment and, even worse, fails to give any clue as to why or how it relates to the subject of this book. Still, his practical world view, idealism, has some merit. He longs for society to progress from a “dependency-engendering monotheism” to the independence and self-responsibility of nontheism or Atheism.
Uhl correctly states that this book is not a scholarly work. He’s right but that is part of its inherent value. He is able to understand, and describe, the intimate person as only a priest or psychologist can. His psychological expertise gives excellent insight into the human psyche while his in-depth ecclesiastical knowledge exposes the mechanisms and motives of the clergy. He does a superb job of intermixing personal experience, empirical data, linear reasoning, anecdotal stories, and sometimes outrageously humorous supporting material to project clear understanding. The result is a delightfully entertaining, informative and interesting work.
Next Review (Review 2)