I’m getting near the end of the book I’m writing. It might never get published because I make a bunch of copyrighted references, anyway, one of my inspirations was a conversation with a guy named “Genus” something. It was on this forum a few years ago. In that middle of that, @citizenschallengev4 said,
“We create our religions to please our personal desires- not to comprehend the universe.”
This includes all the people who piece together their own spirituality with words pulled from ancient scripture and modern philosophy. Genus would almost get it, but then he’d slip back into saying science proved the afterlife or something. But here’s a paragraph from him, where he’s talking about using science to explore “God”.
“The side benefit of trying to empirically consider the question of God’s existence by the only true and reliable means of determining this or any truth, is that it makes more aware of the subtlety, and breathtaking complexity of the universe we live in. This question is actually more of a riddle and riddles make us think in unaccustomed ways. If we try to solve this riddle with language and answers framed in archaic traditions of the past we’ll encounter contradictions that we are asked to simply accept on faith. In our modern age that’s not enough to answer the skepticism held by those millions who are asking serious questions. Religion must and will continue to evolve. Science owns the future of all theological questions on the existence or non-existence of God.”
Here’s the thread from 2019 if you’re interested Evolution of Religion