Religious Culture as a Powerful Influence

I was not surprised that a lively discussion followed the posting of James Anderson’s paper on Freud’s Jewishness to the Online Psychohistory Forum. Certainly it provided a lot of food for thought on the influences of Judaism on Freud’s creation of psychoanalysis, but it also inspired me to think deeply on how religion affects people culturally as well as spiritually.

The concept of a “secular Jew” is hardly new. Many Jews reject their faith but embrace their culture and its heritage. Even those who renounce both their faith and its culture are not immune to the anti-Semitism of those who define Jewishness in racial terms. But, as Anderson illustrates, it was the cultural (rather than religious or racial) components of Jewishness that attracted and inspired Freud. This emphasis on religion as culture rather than faith got me thinking about the ongoing impact of religious culture on those who have rejected the religious tenants of their Christian upbringing. Churches are easy to quit; the culture they create, not so much.

I know many people who were Cradle Catholics (raised Catholic from birth rather than converting to the faith) but who no longer consider themselves devout. There are Supermarket Catholics (who pick and choose only the features of Catholicism that they like—these include Catholics for Choice) and C&E Catholics (who attend Mass only on Christmas and Easter). Others have disavowed the church entirely and self-identify using a variety of terms: Former Catholic, Recovering Catholic, Lapsed Catholic, Non-practicing Catholic, Ex-Catholic, etc. Whatever they call themselves, most people who have left the Church find that their Catholic upbringing leaves an indelible imprint.

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Some are grateful for aspects of the Catholicism that lingers in their psyche. My daughter recently told me that while she has rejected the religious component of her Catholic school education, she remains grateful for the emphasis—in elementary school, high school, and at a Jesuit university—on social justice issues. She appreciates that moral and ethical issues and questions, subjects considered inappropriate in her friends’ public schools, could be discussed and debated openly. Others who have left the Church are grateful for the Catholic rites of reconciliation. The act of confessing wrongdoing, making penance, and being absolved of sin ingrained in them a lifelong habit of examining their conscience and impressed upon them the value of asking for and receiving forgiveness when warranted. At the Catholic university where I work, even students who are lifelong atheists are eager to embrace the Jesuitical approach to learning that will shape their thinking for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps more former Catholics deeply resent rather than appreciate the lasting effects of the Church’s teachings and culture in their lives. They are frustrated that they were made to feel guilty for actions such as pre-marital sex, artificial birth control, masturbation, abortion, assisted reproduction, homosexuality, and divorce. Worse still, the belief system is so deeply ingrained that some can’t shake still feeling guilty for violating these tenets—in which they no longer believe.

The Catholic faith is hardly unique in this regard. Jack Mormons (an inactive Mormon), Lapsed Mormons, Ex-Mormons, etc., populate a large spectrum of attitudes toward their former faith based in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Like lapsed members of other churches, including Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists, the culture of their former faith communities remains a part of them.

People who have left their churches often form strong bonds with each other. Former Catholics share stories, sometimes tragic, often hilarious, of their years of plaid school uniforms, May crownings of statues of Mary, confessions, genuflections, Stations of the Cross, novenas, rosaries, saints, prayers learned by rote, Holy Water, big families, Midnight Masses, experiences as altar servers, and early dreams of becoming a priest or nun. Shared memories and

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repercussions of collective experiences remain even after the faith that inspired them is gone. Whether people who have rejected their religious institutions welcome or resent the lingering effects of their former faith, the cultural influences of their former religious institutions often live on in their new secular lives.

There are not just secular Jews, but secular Catholics, secular Mormons, secular Baptists. Too often, we are persuaded that someone who has left the religious faith of their childhood has made a complete break, underestimating the cultural experiences, patterns, and ways of thinking that remain internalized. The Jewishness that influenced the non-religious Freud is rightfully understood as a key component in his creation of psychoanalysis. James Anderson’s article makes me think that the culture of a religion can have a far more lasting impact than even its articles of faith, and may be the source of powerful but frequently overlooked psychological insight.

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