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Originally Posted by squirell nutkin
before long people decided that they would, in exchange for food, create some kind of mojo that would protect you from the scary things. Then they invented a soul and all manner of boogeymen to protect you from in exchange for more food and power.
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I think it's only in relatively modern times that the religious leaders have outlived their original practicality. They didn't start out making up boogeymen. They each started out serving a very real purpose, but they couldn't happen to explain the scientific basis for it at the time.
Shamans were the closest thing a tribe had to a medical doctor, and their knowledge of herbs produced some tangible results--but no one knew why, so the effect was ascribed to spirits and rituals. Still, they were healing people.
The original kosher laws were based around what was genuinely a healthier way to eat, and what foods spoiled most quickly and would make you sick: so the rabbis (or pre-rabbis) had figured out these basic medical causes-and-effects, but couldn't explain why it worked the way it did, so someone ascribed it to "God's law" that they should eat this way.
Or some Native American dude noticed that when you overfish, soon there's not enough to eat, but when you only take some of the fish, there are still plenty next year--but not knowing anything about breeding patterns, all he could say was that it was the lake god's will that they not take too many of His fish.
I think the earliest religious leaders all had real skills to offer, in the form of pattern recognition and experimentation with results. It was only later that their (not biological, but institutional) descendents needed to find ways to keep the gig going, after things started getting explained away underneath them.