This means that most of our children are still being threatened with the invisible man who sees all their actions and hears all their thoughts, and who will let them roast for eternity if they misbehave. (In my opinion, exposing children to religion constitutes severe child abuse - but I suppose one can't take on the vast majority of mankind.)

Where does this strange idea come from? I think the concept of religion is far too bizarre to have been developed independently. And while most of those who also believe in a single origin of religion as well try to place it in the Middle Stone Age, it is my opinion that it only appeared quite recently.

Most scientists will have us believe that religion is as old as mankind, and that the desire for a god is part of human nature. But what they present as evidence from before 5,000BP (Before Present) does not prove any religious activity.

From an early age Neanderthals and Homo sapiens have buried their dead. Many people settled in one place and gave up their nomadic lifestyle. This led to problems with their dead - they couldn’t leave them behind any longer and had to watch (and smell) the decaying bodies. Starting to bury them probably had only hygienic reasons.

The Venus of Hohle Fels, a figurine representing a massive naked woman and dated to between 40,000 and 35,000BP, is often regarded as the image of a fertility goddess and called the first religious artefact. A less far-fetched explanation is that it was simply a figurine of a massive naked woman and the world's first pornographic artefact.

Then we have the cave paintings. If an artist painted a coconut today, nobody would suggest that he worships the coconut. However, all creatures painted by cavemen are supposed to have 'religious significance'.

Göbekli Tepe is the earliest known building complex in the world, and its oldest part has been dated to 12,000BP. Generally referred to as a temple, its purpose remains unknown, and so far there has been no concrete evidence that it was of a religious nature.

Around 4,600BP the first written documents, most of them with religious references, appear, such as the Instructions of Shuruppak and the Kesh Temple Hymn, implying that religion had been a well-established institution at that stage.

Around that time Newgrange (5,200BP), Stonehenge (5,000BP) and the Pyramids (from 4,600BP) were built, all of them combining burial sites with astronomical functions, thus indicating a religious purpose.

This shows that religion already had been spread by 5,000BP, and that its origins probably predate these writings and constructions by centuries, if not millennia.

Religion serves a multitude of purposes, such as an explanation for the unknown, the denial of death, the desire to control the elements and the justification of authority. I imagine religion was invented sometime between 10,000 and 7,000BP. Around 10,000BP we had the beginning of agriculture, husbandry and the first settlements; 3,000 years later, seemingly out of the blue, we suddenly have states, kings and armies. And while it is human nature (and nature in general) to displace anyone who was there before us (provided we're stronger than they are), fighting and killing on someone else's behalf is just bizarre and can only be explained by the introduction of religion.

The mentioned sites also illustrate the importance of astronomy in the development of religion. The stars, planets, the Sun and the Moon, which have a great influence on life on Earth, had been observed from an early stage of mankind, and the concepts of astrology and finally religion may have derived from the idea that if they had power over us they must be living and thinking creatures who can reward or condemn us.

The oldest depictions of astronomical events refer to the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year - would the Sun completely disappear after that, or would it return?

In the Northern Hemisphere, on the day of the winter solstice, the Sun sinks at the southernmost point, in the constellation of the Southern Cross. Images of the Sun in the cross appear as early as the Stone Age - but when did this observation turn into the abstract idea that the Sun god had been crucified and was resurrected after three days, when the days got longer again? This motif occurs in religions throughout the world and demonstrates the greatest fear of all - that the Sun, the life-giving force on Earth, could disappear.

Unless archaeologists come up with a particularly spectacular find, we will probably never know who came up with the idea of religion. It may have been an astronomer who suggested the stars and planets were living beings, a ruler who declared himself a god in order to quell any opposition, a philosopher who tried to explain where the world and man came from... the possibilities are endless.

Throughout the ages information had been passed on within the known world. Mankind was always on the move and fire, bronze, the wheel and the concept of religion eventually found their way to the most remote places, even if it took several centuries. Everywhere people had arrived after leaving Africa, others would arrive at a later stage and bring new technology and ideas (if they didn't bring the sword), and even Australia and New Zealand were in frequent contact with the Indonesian islands.
The Americas were first populated more than 14,000 years ago, but this was followed by two immigration waves at a much later stage (before Columbus) who could have introduced religion to the New World.

Obviously my theory of a single origin of religion stands in stark contrast to the generally held belief that it is part of human nature and automatically develops wherever man can be found. Therefore, if we found a civilisation that has lived in complete isolation from a time prior to religion, we could see who is right.

That civilisation does exist. Around 10,000 years ago rising sea levels disconnected Tasmania from the rest of the Australian continent, and nobody has set foot on it until the arrival of the Dutch.
The indigenous people were found to have no ability to make fire, no advanced stone tools and - you guessed it - no religion.