God in the Image of Man

“Man created God in his own image.” Imagine that you are Durkheim and explain briefly what this statement would mean for you. 

Durkheim saw religion as being the product of men and society. Durkheim believed that a society projected its values onto a God, making those values sacred. Worshipping their god was essentially worshiping the values of their society. It gave their values more meaning and provided justification for enforcing their rules and values.

In this way, man created God (or gods…) in his image. Man projected values onto God(/s) and worshiped the god and thusly their values.

The next time you think you’re “justifying” you hateful views with scripture, consider that some parts of scripture were written to justify hateful views… by people, not God.