The Serpent's Egg

Ingmar Bergman's father was a Lutheran minister who became chaplain to the King of Sweden. Despite his religious background, I would guess Bergman leaned toward atheism based on the secular thinking his characters exhibit. The main character in Wild Strawberries suggests that his wife's infidelity is not a betrayal because human beings lack free will and they are not morally responsible for their conduct. In Scenes from a Marriage, a married lawyer gets pregnant, and she and her husband decide to abort the pregnancy for the sake of convenience. The son of the main character in Wild Strawberries threatens to leave his wife unless she has an abortion because his sense of duty to his child would deprive him of the option of committing suicide when he felt like it.

If Bergman was an atheist, he bears some resemblance to Friedrich Nietzsche. Although Nietzsche's father was a Lutheran minister, Nietzsche argued that religious ideas disparage man's existence. They suggest that  life on Earth is corrupt and evil, and that true value resides in a transcendent beyond where we will become one with God after we die. This view is foolish because, although life on Earth may be full of suffering and violence, it is also full of beauty, and it is only the existence we will know. There is nothing beyond this world.

Bergman seemed to respect Christianity's ability to inspire us to create beauty. He said it was worthwhile to build cathedrals whether or not God existed. The sentiment that religion is false, but uplifting and not altogether bad, is expressed by the priest in the following dialogue from Bergman's 1977 film, The Serpent's Egg:

Manuela: And I try to tell him that we’ll help each other, but that’s only words for him. And everything I say is useless. The only real thing is fear. And I’m sick. I don’t know what’s wrong. Is there any forgiveness?

Priest: Would you like me to pray for you?

Manuela: Do you think that would help?

Priest: I don’t know.

Manuela: Now?

Priest: Yes, now.

Manuela: Is it a special prayer?

Priest: Yes, yes. Let me think.

We ...

We live so far away from God...

...that he probably doesn’t hear us when we pray for help.

So ...

we must help each other, give each other the forgiveness that a remote God denies us.

I...say to you...

...that you are forgiven for your husband’s death. You’re no longer to blame. And I beg your forgiveness...

...for my apathy...

...and my indifference.

Do you forgive me?

Manuela: Yes, I forgive you.

Priest: That’s all we can do. I must hurry. The parish priest becomes annoyed if I’m late.