This paper is a review of Maslow’s `Religion, Values, and Peak Experiences`, which argues that the church is making real religious understanding impossible to achieve for most individuals.
This paper presents Maslow’s therory that organized religion takes the emphasis away from the personal journey and places it on the behavioral aspects. The author states that Maslow expresses that the church may be responsible for destroying the religious experience for the average individual. The paper discusses that Maslow believes that people experience the world either by acquiring things to meet their needs or by being self-actualized.
While the extremely religious person is capable of recognizing that these rules and procedures are linked to the internal religious experience, the average religious person is not. Instead, the average person begins to see religion not as something internal, but as a set actions. Maslow calls these actions the behavioral components of religion, including the rituals and ceremonies associated with the church.