Alexander,

My answer to your post is along an evolutionary one. I believe religion evolved and during its evolution the concept of God matched how the world actually was, and therefore for the most part religion has developed reasons to go to the doctor (and still have faith), or reasons to not kill oneself (i.e., to be with God immediately), etc.

Nevertheless, people still act differently in religion than they perhaps would if they didn't have a religion. This is mainly due, I believe, to the realization of the religious that God is 'real' for them, and therefore there are certain actions that they should do when non-religious (or people having a different philosophy of religion) would not do. For example, faithful Muslims pray toward Mecca three(?) times daily and this is something that one would mostly do only if they believe in God (there are other reasons but the only reason sustainable over generations is one based on pure belief).

So, religion accommodates and makes the world convenient to its members by having evolved a good correspondence to the world, but not so convenient as to repeatedly deny the religious principles of faith. The differences are very apparent to an outsider of that religion (e.g., obstaining from pork, praying to Mecca, etc).

Warm regards, Harv