This is pure conjecture, but to me religion has always felt like an extension of parentage and hierarchy. You start off with your parents as your "ultimate superiors" (they decide for you, teach you etc.). At some point you learn that they are also part of a similar framework, with society and the state as their "ultimate superiors". Gods and so on would then be the next step, the superior to all superiors.

This would explain the "natural anti-depressant" - an intact family gives us feelings of safety, protection, and other positive things. An intact society does the same. It seems logical that religion would do the same on an even larger level.

Does anyone know of counter-examples? E.g. religions with gods viewed as below the individual, or religions that don't claim to be the framework in which everything else lives?