It's a powerful fantasy for sure. It's Disney-like in the thinking. Wouldn't it be incredible if we all had a fairy godmother that was looking after us and as long as we lived up to expectations, everything would be taken care of and we could live happily ever after... The idea of god is just that on an incredibly grander scale... And when all else seems lost, what else do these people have to cling to for hope?
I read a really interesting blog about who poor people smoke years ago that aptly pointed out the fact that when you have something that (in your mind) relaxes you, or helps you to feel better, even if only for a second, it's better than the alternative... I feel religion offers similar spikes in hope.

I just don't get why they don't understand that the same god put them in the horrible position they are in

I've done some volunteer work in an orphanage in a Kenyan slum. The children there have nothing. Literally. No families, no possessions beyond what they can fit in a cardboard box, no tangible hope for their futures, no home outside of the cramped space they share with 200 other children, but they have one helluva strong faith in God. One of my most vivid memories there is how one evening, after we'd spent the night celebrating with music and dancing and sweets, they went to close the night with prayer. I found myself standing there with 200 children who all began praying. Out loud, passionate, pleading... I couldn't understand much of what was being said, but I stood there for what felt like eternity, moving my eyes from child to child, absorbing the ecstatic energy in the air, trying to imagine what they might be praying for. I do not believe what they believe, and I don't believe in prayer, but in that moment, I was strangely grateful that they had something, anything, from which they could grasp hope.

Well when you have a pattern of this stuff being passed down generationally, and at the same time you systematically wipe out people’s identity, you can program future generations to come . That happened in the United States, and I have to do more research on the history of Haiti and it’s people’s origins as well as culture.

This place can get pretty miserable sometimes. So I don’t waste time judging people for praying or doing any other harmless ritual that brings them hope or peace.