The Need for Faith

The atheist view

Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of God or gods. Atheists argue that there is no need for religion. For example, Marxists stand on the basis of philosophical materialism, which rules out the existence of any supernatural entity, or anything outside or "above" nature. There is, in fact, no need for any such explanation for life and the universe. Nature furnishes its own explanations and it furnishes them in great abundance.

Likewise Freud tried to attack the roots of organized religions. Freud contends:

"Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires." --Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis,1933.

"Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis." --Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, 1927

Need for faith

It is, however, worth noting that even these ideologies developed into new  belief systems themselves. For instance when communism was exported to other countries, it was preached with the same commitment and fervor that characterizes preaching and propagation of religion.

This need for a belief system is a deep rooted one in human nature. We are born with an innate need for faith. For what is the opposite of faith but despair and hopelessness. Faith can stem from different things including ideologies and religion.
Believers think that even an atheist has faith, no matter how much he or she might deny it. Human beings need to have faith. Mankind is not as self-sufficient as many would like to believe..We are extremely dependent on many things despite our denials.