It is important to remember that all religions are social constructs. That is to say, they are invented by people, in social and cultural contexts. The sociology of religion is a good place to start, if you really want to understand why people are religious. As an analogy, all sports are just versions of the same thing: i.e. they all have rules, boundaries, referees, time limits, equipment, opposing teams etc. Religions are just like this - they all have rituals, dogmas, beliefs, concepts etc. The important thing to remember when debating religion and science, is that science asks 'how' and religion asks 'why'. Religion offers what science can't deliver - a meaningful life, even if it is just another version of 'Santa Claus'. Don't be too hard on religious people. They just want to experience happiness in their lives. By the way, I personally think that there is a God who created the universe, but I am not religious, because people created religions. The universe, I believe, is just too complex to have happened by accident. Too many things had to happen just right (gravity, electomagnetism, the expansion during the Big Bang etc) for it to be a blind accident.