kinda gotta look at this whole religion and special beliefs thing behind the lens of semiotics.
first off any relieigon that is based off of a book or scripture. I have really seen parallels between them and modern day literature fans.
I mean some dude actually made a legit religion out of Cthulu mythos.
But star wars, Harry Potter, Avatar, Lord of the Rings etc... all have die hard fans that pour over the mythos of the books, find connections, and hidden meanings, they idolize and emulate their favorite characters.
All of this can be seen in any religion today where you have to read a book to get the gist of what the religion "means".
So devout religious followers today are nothing more than hardcore literature fans
COnsidering how the bible, and the "jewish cannon" have all been written by different people and have been edited and revised into oblivion almost, Pretty similar to fan fiction if you ask me.
but now for the symbolic part. God is the creator, relgions usually have to have to things
a creative force, and a list of rules. hopefully they have a creation story.
These gods, the subjects of many tales, portrayed as ideal, powerful, can do anything, so much so that its usually beyond your comprehension.
I find the qualities that a god posses to be similar to the abstract concept of imagination.
COnsidering now that the only religions that will kill you for leaving them is either Islam "apperently" and Scientology. But most of them we as people are free to choose wat we want to beleive in.
But why do we want to believe in anything?
Plain and simple is hope.
and Hope leads to power
and power leads to creation. Thus the power of god within you, imagining a omnipresent, omnipotent being that loves you want wants the best for you, leads to the personal power to create your own destiny.
I hope that last part made sense.
But basically you can believe anything you want to as long as it is a creative force in your life.