Here is my own summary of one of the most well known works by Ludwig
Feuerbach (1804-1872) called "Das Wesen des Christentums", which
translates to "The essence of Christianity" first published in 1886:
"A God, worshipped in a religion, is in fact the independent being of
man. Mankind describes that what is part of his own being to a God,
losing his being to an image of fantasy, thus extracting and
materializing some of his particularities. In a way, he worships himself
but does not realize it, he regards his own being as another outside
himself. He even allows it to rule him, to force upon him ethical
boundaries, sometimes allows his God-image to enslave him. Reason for
this self-estrangement is that man is repulsed by himself, he is
frustrated by his own lack of possibilities to understand himself, his behaviour or the
world. As a religious believer, man can free himself from these limitations.
Frustration in that sense, however, is a mistake. Feuerbach states that
every man is essentialy perfect, not as an individual but as part of a
collective species. (hence the interest Marx and Hegel showed for
Feuerbachs theories) Every individual should learn to understand his
part of perfection in humanity, representing the species. Man shows adulthood when he
overcomes religion and takes full responsibility for his perfect role in a community. This can be achieved by love and friendship and their
emancipation and separation from any religious God image."
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