[Atheists] do not need religion for meaning. We each determine our own sense of meaning. We have evolved to notice patterns in nature, which helped previous generations to survive. This can cause us to mistakenly see patterns and ascribe agency, including to gods, that are not there.
— Michael Nugent
Quote Source: Michael Nugent
I think this is very true, I think it is the reason over and over again we see religion pop up all over the world. First we see patterns then we assign reason absent reason we come up with or make up reason with out reason we need a magic hat type solution for this many turn to the unexplained and undefinable that is often decided to be some incarnation of ourselves with superpowers which defies all reason or logic but simply is and is the reason for everything we can't explain.
In time we have come across these super beings so often in societies all around the world. we've done so often enough that we came up with a term for them and we call them gods.
We have continued to move our gods further and further away from being provable as one by one the stories related to them have been proven wrong time and time again first starting with high on mountains then in teh heavens once believed to be above the clouds then out in space then to outside of space.
We used to name gods in our efforts to make them less disputable we as humanity have so many times come up with new god and new names for them we even got rid of their names and call most of them now collectively God with a capital G it is even argued that the names of the currently existing and believed in gods now in different languages now mean God in the most prevalent language.
Long ago we needed gods to help us remember what was important and pass it on to future generations but today we have evolved to a point where this is no longer necessary.
I have always wondered why can't people lead a moral, clean, respectable life WITHOUT RELIGION? You don't need religion to be a good person.