Freud's psychoanalytic theories
Freud does not believe there is any supernatural force that affects the way we think or has pre-programmed us to behave in a certain way.  His idea of the id explains why people act out in certain ways, when it is not in line with the ego or superego. Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires." (Freud). Freud believes that people rely on religion to give explanations for anxieties and tension they do not want to consciously believe in.  The basis of Christian theology states, “God created humanity in his image” (Genesis 1:27), but Freud argues that humanity created God in their image.  This reverses the idea of any type of religion because he believes that religion is constructed by the mind.   The role of the mind is something that Freud repeatedly talks about because he believes that the mind is responsible for both conscious and unconscious decisions based on drives and forces. The idea that religion causes people to behave in a moral way is incorrect according to Freud because he believes that no other force has the power to control the ways in which people act.  Unconscious desires motivate people to act accordingly. Freud does a significant amount of research studying how people act and interact in a group setting.  He believes that people act in different ways according to the demands and constraints of the group as a whole.  In his book Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, Freud argues that the church and organized religion forms an “artificial group” which requires an external force to keep it together.  In this type of group, everything is dependent on that external force and without it, the group would no longer exist.  Groups are necessary, according to Freud, in order to decrease the narcissism in all people by creating libidinal ties with others by placing everyone at an equal level.  The commonness among different people with different egos allows people to identify with one another.  This relates to the idea of religion because Freud believes that people created religion in order to create these group ties that they unconsciously seek for.