[Always *]

Its very difficult to explain to ANYONE like BDF said... Like I said, understanding the beginning origins of religions can be a bit of an anomaly. I study religion so it's my job to wrap my mind around it. But it really boils down to cultural development. I feel like understanding sociology also helps. A lot of the stuff such as Elemental Religions by Emile Durkheim would probably be a bit more than what you want to read but it forms out of leadership, out of culture etc. You also have to understand other cultures. For example, the aboriginal people of the Americas and Australia tend to be more nature based. Like the aboriginal people around north America (like from the east side of the rockies to about Quebec/New York) believe in the Creator, they believe in the four directions and such, it's so hard to explain without totally detracting from the point... The way religion manifests itself (the way it is shaped, how it looks, the form it takes etc) largely depends on the culture.

All I can tell you for certain is that religion (including atheism I guess) is in someways a product of civilization, just look at all the variety there is, look at their spread and which groups of people most likely adhere to them.... it really does take a certain understanding about historical events and cultures and geography to work out how religions developed though and it can be confusing to understand them otherwise