Gods have always been thought about by creatures who had gained enough consciousness to analyze their surrounding, their purpose. Many, if not all indigenous tribes have also thought of the existence of a God. Whether that be many gods with their different artistic representations like Romanian gods, or simply believing in the sun as our ultimate God like Aztecs. In the end at the second we had enough consciousness to build a safe environment, sustainable sources of nutrition and we started to get bored, the idea of "how did this world came up in the first place" came through our mind.
It was also a way for us to punish crimes. Implying that if you caused someone else to be suffering, god would punish you after your death for your crimes. But of course, this would make no human being able to reach the promised "heaven", and this is why the pardon has been implemented. Allowing for any believer to be washed of his sins if he confessed and asked for forgiveness. Not only were gods a way to apply justice, they were also a way to explain the unexplainable. Such a rare or "paranormal" phenomena, which could not be explained back then, due to a lack of knowledge. Therefore, anything written in the sacred texts were usually just rare phenomena, amplified by the writings of believers and spread worldwide amongst them. Religions were simply created to manipulated positively the population and make sure they do not cause a panic and the end of the world due to the lack of knowledge available yet. A social tool.

No, it is not. Gods are a way for some to act properly. To not deviate from the good behavior the society wants them to have. People are free to believe in whatever they want, as long as they do not attempt to influence or mock others for what they believe in either. As an atheist, I get mocked a lot for not believing that a spiritual and beyond comprehension entity is living above us. Watching our every moves. But I am usually not attempting to throw a debate because most of their arguments are purely biased by their faith. Subconsequently, If it was to be proven that no gods exists up there, it would be chaos. People raping, murdering and abusing others for the sake of their dopamine level. Religions are what humanized us, what made us think about what is moral and what is not. Religions seperated us from the animals we originally were.

Religions have existed for thousands of years, thus it is normal for someone that is born in a religious environment to not be able to separate from it. What would you do if you learned that what you've believed in was just blatant lies here to manipulate you ? You would be denial and keep believing, because lying to yourself is better than accepting the harsh reality. The reason why people are so manipulated by religion is of course because of their texts. Take Christianism as an example : John 3.36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Clearly implying that "If you do not believe in God, you are corrupted and thus will end in hell." This religion is claiming that god is fair and knows the weight of justice. Yet, he punishes those who do not follow like blindfolded sheep, even if they are good human beings. On the other hand, he gives forgiveness to those who have raped, murdered and stolen simply if they believe in god. In other terms, god rewards people for believing texts, and punishes those who thinks. “God loves you” but if you decide not to respect one of his many rules he established without even letting you know, he will send you to world full of pain and make you burn forever. But he loves you :). This is simply a very large manipulation technique. So if you are afraid of what comes after death (which honestly, everyone is) then you will believe in god and let religion manipulate you.