A Critiqual Study of Erich Fromm's View on Causes of Human's Tendency to Religion

This paper Studies the causes of human's tendency toward religion from Erich Fromm's point of view. There are different approaches to this issue: sociological, psychological and philosophical-theological. Fromm believes that two agents cause human beings to go toward religion: first, the need to common outlook and second, escaping responsibility. Since these two factors have been permanent in human history, his tendency to religion has been permanent too. Fromm believes that human's tendency to religion has had unpleasant results such as: establishing unjust and opinionated religious governments, emergence of religious scholar class who misused religious concepts, and multiple wars. Fromm's viewpoints on human's tendency to religion have been faced some objections. Common outlook is a result of Religiousness not a cause of tendency toward a religion. Escaping responsibility also is not a tendency agent toward a religion. For religion itself creates responsibility, and that is way some people do not accept any religion. Those unpleasant results which Fromm counted for religion cannot be generalized to all religions.