I think that religion is the result of humans having a fairness gene. Deeply ingrained in every human is the propensity towards fairness. Even our distant cousins the chimps have a very strong tendency to fairness. When rewards are unequally given, they literally go ape shit. This fairness gene seems to be an important survival trait in social animals.
So fast forward to humans developing high awareness of reality. And that reality is not fair, horrible things happen to individuals without any reason. So instead of going insane, we have invented a buffer against reality's cold random violence. Religion. You see those evil men prospering? God will get them in the next life. See those poor nice people dying in hideous ways? God will reward them for their suffering. See? Everything works out nice and fairly, no reason to go insane. :-)
That is an interesting concept. I don't think that is the way it is, but I respect your right to believe it, because not a single person can prove their belief is the right one. I think free will works into all of this. We have the free will to take advantage of people or lift them up to a better life. We can make the world into a waste land (to a certain point, then the earth itself takes over to rid it of the parasites (us)), or we can turn it into a paradise. But I also believe there is a balancing. It may not happen in this life. It may build for multiple lives before it comes back to haunt you, but it does balance out because the entire universe it built on a system of balance. Too much of anything, even the good parts, cause an unbalance in something (us, the world, etc.)
Very interesting perspective. We hear every day about how religion causes war...but the fairness gene. That's really interesting.