This nonfiction book addresses the question of what relevance religiosity still holds today and where psychologists set up warning signs. Religions today have a Janus-faced character: On the one hand, they offer emotional support and assistance (not only) in crisis situations - on the other hand, suicide attacks are carried out in their name, and under their guise, sexual abuse of children has flourished (or continues to do so). Religions have lost their innocence worldwide. But what exactly are religions? How did they arise? How have they changed over time? What are the positive aspects of religions - and what are the problematic ones? Where do they help, and where do they harm? What distinguishes them - and what do they have in common?

Contents:

Religions: World-explaining and meaning-making systems that almost always consider themselves the one true, eternal, and ultimate explanation system. - They structure diffuse, subjective inner truths and unstructured situations, attempting to make the incomprehensible comprehensible. - Basic trust, symbols, ritual actions. - What are spiritual enlightenment experiences? - The origin of all religions is fear, emptiness, meaninglessness, and death. - Religions are good guides in the dark of night - during the day, it's better to rely on your own eyes.

About the author:

Werner Gross, Dipl.-Psych., psychotherapist, supervisor, and coach. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content. />This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.

Autorentext

Dipl.-Psych. Werner Gross is a psychological psychotherapist, coach, supervisor, and business consultant, with a private practice in Gelnhausen, Germany. He is a lecturer in psychology at the universities of Frankfurt/Main and Mainz, as well as at several training institutes for psychotherapists. From 2007 to 2024, he served as a member of the examination commission for the state exam (licensing) of psychological psychotherapists in the state of Hesse. From 1994 to 2017, he led the BDP (Professional Association of German Psychologists) working group "Psychology of Religion - Spirituality - Psychomarket," and developed a criteria catalog titled "What Makes an Alternative-Spiritual Group a Problematic Cult." For this, he was awarded the BDP's Honorary Award in 2018. From 1996 to 1998, he was a member of the German Bundestag's Enquête Commission on "So-called Sects and Psycho Groups." He has published various specialist and nonfiction books on psychological topics (e.g., Psychomarket - Sects - Destructive Cults).