Not sure how religion can defend your from nature. According to christians nature is gods wraith against sinners and non believers.

Freud regarded God as an illusion, based on the infantile need for an all knowing father figure; and viewed religion as necessary to help restrain violent impulses earlier in the development of civilization. But he was clear that nowadays, religion must be set aside in favor of reason and science.

Just in case you hadn't seen this...

According to Wikipedia(insert disclaimer here): [en.m.wikipedia.org]

In The Future of an Illusion (1927), Freud refers to religion as an illusion which is "perhaps the most important item in the psychical inventory of a civilization". In his estimation, religion provides for defense against "the crushingly superior force of nature" ...

Bad ideas born of ignorance and fear. Explanations at the time of civilisation’s infancy had to explain the inexplicable, in the absence of crucial information.
We didn’t know (we had no way to know) that the earth went around the sun. Didn’t know of germ theory that would explain disease. Didn’t know that earthquakes were the result of living on the crust of a cooling planet. We still have the religious impulse when we’re afraid. So I reckon Freud makes a fair point.

Its from "The Future of an Illusion". Book by Sigmund Freud, Ch. 3, 1927. I like the one below better.

Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis.

I'll search in the German sources, but meanwhile, let me enjoy "the crushing (sic) superior force of nature."