Is religion a crutch?

[Whateverist]

If it is, it is one that people are taught to use as naturally as they are their legs for walking.  But it could be that god belief actually accomplished some sort of breakthrough in consciousness for human beings, actually increasing our capacity for critical thought as Julian Jaynes suggests in The Origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind.  Even if we don't accept the precise arc of events he describes there it could be a rough approximation for something positive which god belief played a role in.  Of course, it would be still more positive if in the end we see through the whole god thing.