Thank God for Dad and Thank Dad for God

In Faith of the Fatherless, Dr. Paul Vitz turns Freud's explanation of theism on its head. Recall that Freud postulated belief in God to be a projection of one's father onto the universe. Vitz psychoanalyzes Freud and other prominent atheists to conclude with his "defective father hypothesis" that “the atheist’s disappointment in and resentment of his own earthly father unconsciously justifies his rejection of God” (16).

As Dr. Vitz says, being a loving father is the worst thing an atheist can do to raise non-believing children.

A father's importance in his child's life is eternal. Thank your father if you believe in God.

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Paul Vitz, Faith of the Fatherless: the Psychology of Atheism (Dallas: Spence Publishing Co., 1999).

Thanks to IRR for the quotation.