[Reeses]

If that's true, then what happens when the opposite happens? What happens to a society when its members STOP believing in an all-knowing, punitive god and start believing that they themselves are the alpha and the omega?

They are following in the footsteps of the Neanderthals which were not religious vs. the Cro-Magnons that were.

[To Hell With Poverty]

I'm pretty sure the Neanderthals had some religion. They did bury their dead with care and ceremonial objects after all. Whether there was a sense of morality or final judgement we may never know.

[gleeaikin]

There is some evidence that Neanderthals may also have had beliefs that could be interpreted as being of a religious or spiritual nature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_religion