I do not think that you can put all beliefs into one big lump called religion and come up with an answer, unless it is a very superficial and inaccurate one. You have to look at each religious belief and examine the basis for it. What is its world view? On what is it founded? Some beliefs will have no historical basis whatsover, being founded on tribal beliefs of several thousand years ago, modified by history. Hinduism is one of these. Some beliefs are founded by a historical personage, who did not, however, claim any supernatural power in the formation of his/her beliefs. Buddhism is one of these, Confucianism is another. The interesting thing about these beliefs is that you can successfully separate the belief from the founder, and still have a perfectly functioning system. It is, in a way, like living by the morals of Aesop's Fables. They have wonderful general truths, even when not associated with Aesop himself. (you often hear people quote "God helps those who help themselves" not realising that this is a misquote of Aesops "The gods help those who help themselves") Then there are the belief systems that claim historical basis, being built on the teachings of a founder, whose teachings cannot be separated from the person of the founder himself. The Judaism is one, as is Christianity and Islam. There are many other groups which claim similar revelations, eg Mormonism, Jehovah's witnesses. In all cases, the character and reputation of the founder is all important. Without the founder, the belief system would collapse. That is why so many attacks are made on the person of Jesus Christ by enemies of Christianity, and it is why Islam forbids such attacks in any form. I hope this helps.

Time! This millenium's gods and religions may well become next millenium's mythology... Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism may well still be "religions" - but I am willing to be that the day-to-day worshipping/attitudes/behaviours/traditions of followers will be significantly different to what we have today...