Psychological views on religion - Freud

Freud argued that religion is a projective system - a product of the human mind. It is a 'universal neurosis' or illusion, which we may 'disregard in its relation to reality'. God, therefore, has no reality but is a creation of the human mind which fulfills inner needs and identification

Religion as an aid to overcome inner psychological conflict
Religion is a form of neurotic illness resulting from incompletely repressed traumatic memories, which are invariably sexual in nature. As we grow up, we experience fear at the chaotic world and resolve this trauma by projecting it onto the memory of our father, who provided order when we were a child. The major problem in the sexual development of the child is the Oedipus Complex, which is only partially repressed by the child. As a result, the conflict is channeled in the form of neurotic symptoms, one of which is religion. 

Freud examined the primitive origins of monotheism, based on the primal horde. The tension between the dominate male and the subordinate males cultimates in the overthrow of the father, whom…