Lacking science, people had no way to explain the laws of nature or why certain consequences were associated with certain actions – nevertheless, the causes and effects themselves were understood (as I said earlier, science explains cause+effect+mechanism; mysticism explains cause+effect). It was an advantage to codify the actions that allowed people to stay alive and to integrate this deep into the psyche and the theology came along for the ride as a plausible explanation, if not a particularly grounded one. The result: religious people stayed alive, non-religious people died out. This not only created a selective pressure for religion, but convinced the religious that *the unbelievers really were being punished*, strengthening the belief in the religious population as well. (So this is a trait that’s both genetically and memetically reinforced).