There does seem to be a trend across all socioeconomic backgrounds and social diversities, including remote jungle tribes, to assign a greater being or beings for the purposes of simplicity. To suppose a god created humankind out of 'thin air' was certainly easier than to derive evolutionary theory. To suppose there was a god of thunder prior to understanding what thunder really was, gave a scary, unexplained phenomenon an acceptable explanation and therefore reduced fear in it - This fear was instead transferred to the god, with whom humanity could presumably interact, and therefore control to some extent. Throughout history, community leadership has used God as a tool for population control, with the modern catholic church as good an example as that of the elders of the old testament. What you can and can't eat, sleep with, do, etc. etc. have apaprently always been dictated by god who ironically gave us choices to do what we want, but would cast us into hell for not doing his wishes. Finally, and linked to all of this is that it gives a human the right (in their mind anyway) to do whatever they want, because it happens to tie in with their god's wishes, or even worse, their interpretation of their god's wishes. What is sad is that all humans have a underlying instinctive moral code, and we break this left, right and center under the guise that it is a divine wish. Osama Bin Laden's 'islamic' cause has been refuted by other islamic bodies, and even the most basic of islamic laws states that you don't kill other any of god's creatures other than to eat. That didn't stop him from (allegedly) masterminding the deaths of thousand of innocent people who despite not being the american 'army', in many cases weren't even american. Anyway, I've ranted for long enough now. And if I've made any errors I apologise, but the important part is the gist of what I've been trying to say rather than the intimate details.