Where the statement 'God created the universe" is just rhetoric. Yes, of course it is. What is God! What does create even mean?
No version of God is real, so we are all unified in this regard.
As for Creation, well just take a gander at the complexity of a single-celled protozoa, 'create' is beyond comprehension and religion doesn't help by throwing out bumper-sticker lines that encompass a complexity they think they have a handle on just by preaching a sermon about God.
Clearly the scientist working away at making sense of all this is in a state of worship or prayer many times more praiseworthy than some gathering in a church following the hymn sheet, even if the scientist is an atheist or oblivious to their state of grace.
I don't have an answer and your take is as valid as mine but I don't think you get a universe with such wonders and exactitudes and such life and human consciousness without something a bit special going on external to that universe that's giving it a push in the right direct.
