It'll be a religion tonight during the Liverpool-Everton derby match (Where DO they put that third set of goalposts...?), Dave.

Religion is a pretty poor attempt at explaining anything. It routinely seeks by far the least likely explanations, those based on myth and magic and the supernatural, always studiously avoiding real evidence, "explanations" which not only can't explain anything but, worse, can't be explained themselves. We all have our irrational moments but I think it's quite likely that inchoate mystical ideas were pounced on opportunistically by community bigwigs who saw the potential for using myth and the human predilection for letting imagination run riot to generate awe and fear and to allow them to control people. Whatever benefits religion has achieved are simply accidental.