I've been reading Will Durant's Our Oriental Heritage which starts with prehistory and goes through the beginning of civilization in Sumeria, Egypt, Persia, etc and onto more the more recent history of India, China and Japan. It is a terrific book that shows clearly how humans invented religion and how it has been used by different civilizations and rulers. Like all human inventions it is a reflection of its creators. I've read several installments of Durant's History of Civilization series and this one has been the best, it's well worth the time to read.

religion evolved along with man probably for the last 5 million years. it started with a need for understanding, and developed like a tree with many branches. some good some not.