Is Believing in God Irrational? Ch3 Psychological Crutch

This post is inspired by Amy Orr-Ewing's book "Is Believing in God Irrational?" Chapter 3. Please see all the chapters in the post "Is Believing in God Irrational?" for the full picture if you'd like.

Ch3) Is religion a psychological crutch to make the person feel better?
Some claim that, in need of comfort and protection, weak people project a God to fill the vacant father figure role, one in the image of man. Again, this idea has no psychological evidence. However, I will present a few thoughts Amy gave that came to my mind as well:
a) I suppose this concept of God makes sense from both ends. From the atheist perspective, of course God fills all the roles that weak human beings want him to, providing everything they need for comfort. This suggests man created God to fill his own void. From the Christian side, it makes sense that if God created us to be in relationship with him, he would create a need in us for him, such that he satisfies all our desires in the same way that women 'need' men and visa versa (though this desire is only a shadow and a foretaste deposit of our actual relationship with God). In fact, this intense desire that refuses to be satisfied by things of this world may be in itself and evidence for God. Because the facts (that the idea of God satisfies our desires) match both perspectives, there is nothing to be said here. This observation should have no weight to either side.
b)  It is simple to reverse this argument and say that atheists, or anyone who holds any position for that matter, has created their set of beliefs in order to avoid pain of some sort. Perhaps the atheist does not want to make the life changes that God would make necessary. Perhaps the atheist wants independence, a feeling of accomplishment without any help. Perhaps they have been scarred earlier by hateful religious people or had father, mothers, or friends who seriously let them down, and therefore the main images that reflect God. Whatever the belief, reasons can be suggested for creating a psychological crutch.
c) The same sort of arguments work for the nearly identical ideas that man invented God to fill the void of need and to create an orderly society (Ch2.d), that religion is only for the weak who can't realize that religion is just a reflection of our desires for society, a coping mechanism against the hard world, or a deluded escape from our failures.