The human psychology is so averse to the idea of chaos and the unknown that people would rather believe that evil overlords are running the world than the scary idea that nobody is running the world at all.

It's interesting that the decline of religion in the West has been accompanied by the rise of conspiracy thinking and the idea of secular secret rulers of the world, alien watchers, or some other entity that plugs into the hole in the human mind where gods used to go.

Here's a theory: Perhaps religions serve a valuable function of soothing that fear of chaos and allowing the rest of life to proceed more smoothly?

I haven't studied this in detail, but it seems to me that in most of the Western world, where religion is largely kept in its place while people get on with their lives, the fear-dampening function keeps working but the religion doesn't get in the way. Civilization progresses.

In nations and societies where religion becomes the central focus, it starts to become counterproductive and civilization starts to stagnate.

For many Americans over the past generations, belief in God has acted as a foundation that gives them the idea that there is, in fact, a purpose and order to things. If you're a Midwestern farmer, at the mercy of random elements, it helps. But for most of those Americans God has been something that is a part of their life, not the entire focus, and they get on with the farming, building, and rational thinking that creates civilization. The farmer prays over meals, goes to church on Sundays, gives to charity, and tries to do what a good person would do. "God's in his heaven and all's right with the world" is the thinking. And that's mostly the extent of it.

No obsession with converting the world. No crusades. No jihad. No focusing on religion over everything else.

Even the typical preacher is just a fellow who happens to preach for a living, comes to dinner once in a while, and is fun to go fishing with. Puts his pants on one leg at a time like anyone else.

I believe this compartmentalization is why Western religions don't jam up the works of society to the extend that some Mideastern or other religions do. There are, of course, exceptions in the West, but they tend to be rare, and are often characterized as "cults."