Don't the roots of religion ie belief in the supernatural in fact go back to early man's fear and wonder with regards to natural phenomena such as lightening earth tremors floods storms etc?

Answer 1

It's as old as man himself. The first time a man looked into the sky, he strained to explain what he saw. Over time, this evolved into religion. Now we know why most of these things happen, but unfortunately, religion has endured.

We will never know for sure how the first religions began, but it is likely that it is along the lines described in the question. One pattern which is very noticable (and still is, among religions today) is that as knowledge grows, religions retreat.

Christianity, for example, used to tell people what the stars were, and that the sun went around the earth. As knowledge grows, religions shrink and try to explain less and less. A Christian from 1000 years ago would not recognise modern Christianity. No posession by demons - that's mental illness (though the Vatican, scandalously, still practise exorcism today). No relics of saints being traded. No splinters from the True Cross being sold.

Modern versions of religions are basically hollow shells of what they were before.