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elements of religious experience, including the Thus, there seems to be a qualifier to the defec-
experience of belief. tive father hypothesis. When the attachment is
My previous research with the psychology of avoidant, there is a lack of confidence that the
belief (Voss, 2019) focused on testing the defec- attachment figure will be available to provide
tive father hypothesis proposed by Vitz (2013). security or meet some other need. If the ans-
Vitz (2013) proposed that many of the world’s wer to the availability question is “maybe the
intellectuals of the 20th century who became attachment figure will be available,” then the
atheists also had poor or absent father relation- attachment relationship is characterized as an-
ships. Vitz’s evidence came from reviewing the xious. As it pertains to God, there is not a rejec-
case histories of a number of these persons and tion of God, but just as in the insecurity of an
drawing the conclusion that there was a link anxious father attachment, the attachment re-
between these men, poor father relationships, lationship with God may also be characterized
and their rejection of God. However, Vitz’s data by anxiousness. This is consistent with what is
was based on case stories that were archival in known as the compensation hypothesis (Kirk-
nature and were also selective. What was mis- patrick, 1992; 2005).
sing was empirical and statistical data. The focal The compensation hypothesis suggests that
point of my research was to test the defective fa- when a person has an anxious relationship with
ther hypothesis using data from various types of their attachment figure, i.e., father, the person
non-believers including atheists, nonbelievers, may turn to God in order to compensate for the
irreligious persons, etc. For this study, a sample lack of security they feel in the personal attach-
of persons, both believers and nonbelievers was ment relationship. Interestingly, Granqvist and
drawn from online sources. They all (N = 345) Hagekull (1999) found that persons with low
completed several surveys, among which was childhood security were those who were most
an assessment of their religious beliefs and an likely to make sudden conversions. Turning
attachment instrument, the Experiences in Clo- toward God to provide assurance and security
se Relationships Revised Scale (ECR-RS) (Fra- when there is uncertainty in earthly relation-
ley et al.,2011) that yielded an attachment score ships suggests that there is a level of attachment
for the participant and their father. Other que- that has been wired into the architecture of the
stions pertained to their perceived respect for brain, so it is possible to have trust, albeit an-
their father and other questions that are beyond xious. Turning toward God who can provide se-
the scope of this paper. curity in the absence of human relational secu-
In general, the data supported the defective fa- rity is a way to deal with the anxiety. It is unclear
ther hypothesis, but only for those who showed whether the faith experience looks different for
an avoidant attachment style. Using regression those who grew up with secure attachment and
analysis, the data revealed that “as scores of fa- those who grew up with anxious attachment.
ther avoidance increased, so did scores in athe- This will be the focus of future research.
ism, secularism, and irreligious-nonreligious
worldviews (Voss, 2019, p. 173). What was in- Attachment and Implications for Belief
teresting was that this finding did not hold true This brief review of attachment theory and my
for those with an anxious attachment style or a research on the defective father hypothesis pro-
healthy attachment style with their father. One vides a foundation from which to discuss the
interpretation of this data, and consistent with implications of attachment for faith and be-
Vitz (2013), is that those with poor quality fa- lief. What is being proposed is that attachment
ther attachments are not only avoidant of their is a neural change that wires early experience
fathers, but also avoidant of a deity. If the father into the neuroanatomy of the brain. Specific
attachment was secure, participants in the stu- experiences are wired into a working model
dy tended to have belief in God. This was also as proposed by Bowlby. The neuroarchitectu-
true of those who had anxious attachments with re becomes a template by which relationships
their fathers. However, those with an anxious are experienced and interpreted. Religious ex-
father attachment did not turn toward atheism. perience, especially Christianity and a belief

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