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[[Freud]] renounced the [[Jewish]] [[religion]] of his [[parents ]] -- though not his [[Jewish]] [[identity]] -- and considered himself an [[atheist]]. [[Freud]] regarded [[monotheistic]] forms of [[religion]] as the [[sign ]] of a highly developed [[state ]] of [[civilization]]. [[Freud]] [[thought ]] that all [[religions]] were barriers to [[cultural]] [[progress]], and thus argued that they should be abandoned in favor of [[science]].

[[Freud]] argued that [[religion]]s were an attempt to protect oneself against [[suffering]] by "a delusional remoulding of [[reality]]," and thus concluded that they "must be classed among the mass-[[delusions]]" of humankind.<ref>{{F}} ''[[Civilization and Its Discontents]]''. 1930. [[SE]] XXI. p. 81</ref> [[Freud]] saw the [[idea ]] of [[God]] as an expression of an [[infantile]] longing for a protective [[father]].<ref>{{F}} ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Future of an Illusion]]''. 1927. [[SE]] XXI, 3.</ref> [[Freud]] described [[religion]] as a "[[universal ]] [[obsessional ]] [[neurosis]]."<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Obsessiove Actions and Religious Practices]]." 1907. [[SE]] IX, 116.</ref>

[[Jacques Lacan]] also considers himself an [[atheist]], having renounced the [[Catholic]] [[religion]] of his parents. Like [[Freud]] he opposes [[religion]] to [[science]], and aligns [[psychoanalysis]] with the latter.<ref>{{S11}} p. 265</ref> [[Lacan]] states that the [[true ]] [[formula ]] of [[atheism]] is not ''God is [[dead]]'' but ''God is [[unconscious]]''.<ref>{{S11}} p. 59</ref>

[[Lacan]]'s [[discourse ]] abounds in [[metaphor]]s drawn from [[Christian]] [[theology]]. The most obvious example is surely the phrase the [[Name-of-the-Father]], which [[Lacan]] adopts to denote a fundamental [[signifier]] whose [[foreclosure]] leads to [[psychosis]]. The changes wrought by the [[symbolic]] are described in creationist rather than evolutionary [[terms]]. In the [[seminar ]] of 1972-3, [[Lacan]] uses the term "[[religion|God]]" as a [[metaphor]] for the [[Other|big Other]], and compares [[woman|feminine]] ''[[jouissance]]'' to the ecstacy experienced by Christian mystics such as St Teresa of Avila.<ref>{{S20}} p.70-1</ref>