I believe religion is not only necessary in the grand scheme, but a projection of something biologically innate.
At least in some form. Perhaps it is part of the evolutionary process to do with our imagination. Every imaginary creation is greater than what we know to be true, but that also gives us opportunity to work toward its development, making it true.
I wrote an article a long, long time ago called "The architect and the Egg" (Can't find it!?). Essentially the premise is, the architect dreams the possibly impossible, the engineer does what they can to make it a reality. The engineer might not complete it 100%, but in order to get close, they might need to create new materials, or processes. And with those and inspired by what was built, the next iteration of the architect can advance even further. Without the Engineer, the architect is impotent. Without the architect, the engineer copy pastes more efficiently.
Perhaps this is what belief in magic does for us, it is our personal architect who designs an imaginary world, to give the space for us to build differently than what we currently are.
Edit: found it referenced in another post:
https://peakd.com/philosophy/@tarazkp/the-architect-or-the-egg
That's a good perspective. I just woke up so I'll have to read a full architect later on, but I do think there's a bit more to it.
I wrote an overly wordy through process, but I guess I was saying in short that religious belief is likely a kind of natural side-effect of a series of inherent needs to get through the world with an uncomfortably complex brain that experiences mental issues no other animal does. Yet we still require the basics, tribalism and such, which manifests itself into religions and cults. Even the atheists such as myself, lost without religious groups to fall into, typically find themselves in less controlled equivalents of worship (2SLGBTQIA+ communities, political sides, etc).
I reckon its unavoidable, and with an increasingly atheistic world, I'm curious, perhaps concerned, what form it will manifest itself into down the line. But yeah I don't wanna make this discussion drift off too far, though it is all a result of confirmation bias =D
I agree with you in it, but I think "religious behavior" might be a manifestation of the wiring, even if it isn't necessarily needed to be. Perhaps in the past or in the future, it will manifest in a different way than what resembles religion. But, our wiring is definitely geared toward grouping, which is why the "new religions" like you mentioned (there are many now) are the response to the shift away from the traditional religions.