Actually, I think Sage of Earth was pretty bang on. I'm a bit tired right now to answer this properly, but a lot of people throughout history often applied religion, or even looked to their belief in God to find answers to questions when they didn't know what the answer was themselves. Ever heard of the "God works in mysterious ways" quote? As time goes on, more and more questions are being answered by science.

For example, we now know that people don't get possessed by demons. Years ago however, many people probably would have believed that somebody suffering from a fit was actually possessed by the devil, and needed a quick exorcism from the local priest. Now, such a fit would be far more likely be a case of epilepsy or a stroke, rather than Satan trying to get into your mind.

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