It is refreshing to find someone rejecting faith (belief based on sacred scripture) so firmly and decisively.

However, religion, the Latin meaning of which (L. religare = to bind together), it seems to me, is of great significance, has an immensely important function for both individual and group psychology, and thus for society at large.

Reason and science have completely undermined the old, established religions, but the fact that so many still hang on to them (or are in search of substitutes), despite all the contradictions and absurdities that have to be denied or rationalized, illustrates just how important a role they have, but can no longer satisfactorily fulfill.

We are in urgent need of new, alternative religions, rooted in reason, uncertainty and science, fit for purpose in respect to individual and group psychology and able to facilitate, with the help of modern technology (the Internet and biometrics), the self-organization of individuals and groups into a more just, humane, and above all, sustainable, society.

I agree, with what [ReynardtheFox] says about it being "impossible to function without relying on beliefs . . . . ", even though we may not have conceptionalized or be consciously aware of them. We need a comprehendible view of our environment in order to function and survive within it. No matter how flawed it might be, we need some kind (any kind) of a model of the reality we live in, since we cannot grasp it directly.

Becoming conscious of ourselves and the world around us, I believe (in the sense of "assume"), is what gave rise to and continues to create a need for religion. With consciousness came fear of "known unknowns": dangers in the darkness, the forces of nature, death, etc. Religion started off as an attempt to explain and thus reduce our fears of the unknowns consciousness had made us aware of.

The initial role of spirits and gods would have been to explain the world and its vicissitudes, thus reducing people's fearfulness. Projecting human attributes onto the forces which caused the wind to blow, the rain to fall, the Sun to turn, etc. immediately presented the possibility of perhaps being able to influence them in some way, e.g. with prayers or gifts (sacrifices).

The belief in gods and spirits was (and still is) an open invitation for exploitation (intentional or not). A clever individual might not be a dab hand with his fists or a sword, with which social advantage (power and respect) was originally secured amongst human "prime apes", but with a strong personality and a quick mind, he might become an interpreter or ambassador of these supernatural agents, thus gaining power even over the strongest and most dominant members of his clan. This gave rise to an aristocracy, on the one hand, and a priesthood, on the other, which in the middle ages formed an all-powerful alliance to their mutual advantage in exploiting the mass of society.

Today, the power to exploit society has shifted to other, generally more "meritocratic", social elites, especially in politics, business and the media, although the aristocracies and priesthoods (in recognizable of mutated forms, e.g. academia) still exist, exploiting as best they can the "socio-economic environment" in which - fatefully, but in denial of the fact - we continue the Darwinian struggle for survival and advantage that evolution adapted human nature and behaviour to.