Okay, I think I understand your point. Thank you for being patient with me.
Humans are subject to complex internal and external forces and that's the price we pay for our degree of consciousness. When an animal becomes human in the cognitive sense, it then becomes aware of so many challenges that contradict and assail its sense of self. For instance we learn at a very young age that we are going to grow old and die. We have to counter this every moment of our lives and the best way to do this is via excessive behaviours. Fundamental religion offers a fairytale solution to quell the fears and make life meaningful.
So I agree that religion is full of ritual, dogma, superstition and a kind of false, therapeutic psychology, but I think it's also trying to penetrate realities that lie outside our senses and understanding. There is a reality we don't have access to, an intangible quality to life and religion is an attempt to channel this into practical forms, but of course as is the way of humans we lose ourselves and end up with a series of ridiculous beliefs and religions laws that a tyrant would be proud of.
The Middle East came with fertile soils, the majority of grain crops we still rely on today and the majority of the animals we have been able to domesticate for both food and labour, so the rise of humanity could not have taken place anywhere else. It stands to reason that the first recognisable religions would come from this area and yes, natural phenomena were woven into the stories as being divine intervention, but this makes no real difference.
Even in this age of science we have not answered the big questions so religion using natural events to embellish their stories is okay because there is no real way to talk about God, divine intervention, the human spirit, these are abstractions that are beyond us.
As for contributing to science, that very much depends on how you view science. An example is New Guinea Highlanders, elders in the community can tell you the medicinal use of over 200 plants. They have worked out ways to turn poisonous plants into food sources. They know the habitat and seasonal movement of all the animals in their region. Now this is science and just because they don't have the luxury of having community members do nothing but science as large agricultural societies where able to do, that does not make any race more capable than any other.
Plants and animals enabled the Middle East, not any special abilities they possessed as people.
I don't feel as if I have responded properly because it is such a big subject, but that's all I've got for the moment.
