'''Projection theory''' is a theoretical concept put together by Atheists those who do not believe in a personal [[God]] to explain how such a belief came to be embedded in human cultures across the world. The conclusion that is reached is that it is psychological tendency to create a god force with human like qualities that match the cultural norms of the society. German philosopher [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] viewed this as an unconscious way to deal with uncertainty. [[Karl Marx]] used a derivative of it to chastise religion as the 'opiate of the masses' and [[Freud]] picked up the same theory, but added the idea of wish fulfillment as to the driving force.<ref>http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/05/000148.php</ref>
Interestingly, [[Paul Vitz]], in his research into atheism, turns the tables when he finds that there is a correlation between atheism and absent or abusive fathers. He therefore concludes that far from there being a need to make up God, there is actually a need to create atheism as a way to put distance from a missing father influence.