Religion as an illusion

Wish fulfillment
Freud outlined his idea of religion as an illusion based on wish fulfillment of the longings of the ideal-ego aspect of the superego

• His ideas were heavily influenced by the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach, who saw God as a projection of the human mind based on human longings and desires

Freud proposed that the origin of religion lies in our deepest wishes, such as the desire for justice and the desire to escape death

• Religion is seen to have emerged from such desires, for instance, each attribute of God can be interpreted to be an expression of an aspect of the hope  human beings have to be free from their limitations (e.g. God's holiness is our desire to be free from…