For Julia Kristeva, religion is not only an illusion and a source of neuroses. Rather, "the incredible need to believe" precedes any religious construction: people are shaped by this desire to believe, which begins with the expectation of a loving third party, is expressed in the first speech and continues in the young people's search for identity, who for Kristeva are believing doubters. In conversations and essays Kristeva analyses this need and illustrates her thoughts with the help of texts by St. Paul, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, Karol Wojtyla, Jürgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger. She deals with topics such as the father and mother function, authority, idealism of youth and feminism. Her insights illuminate current religious conflicts. Even if we no longer believe in God, Kris argues.