If you would allow me a few minutes to present a short narrative.

After the last ice age man was close to extinction. We were relegated to a race of hunter-gatherers sparsely spread across the middle of the earth. We existed in that manner for a time until another ecological event happened and further limited the habitable range to a smaller area which included the fertile crescent in the near east.

The humans in the fertile crescent had already discovered plentiful grains as a source of food. This made them less reliant upon game and took away their need to roam. In fact, they took to replenishing the grain in one area on their own (farming) and settled down. Their formerly small, mobile groups became large families and those families became communities. This evolution necessitated rules for living in close quarters and close vicinity with others in peace. Those rules and the social interaction led to a local mythos which was first transmitted orally then in written forms as technology grew.

Of course there were some rules that would be consistent across all those communities. Like the golden rule. But each would also have its' own unique things based upon different preferences or different tales or different needs for the area. As these communities grew and interacted some stories would would be adopted, some would be swallowed up, and the mythos builds. This is where religion comes from.

All of those little books that each group or community would make would have its' own impact. Some were the basis for other works of literature, some were recorded over the ages and made into holy books such as the Bible or the Koran or the Tora or the Vedas, but all came about through this same process. This is why you find the similarities that you do across belief systems. We even know the dates when some of these compilations were made.

But through all the diversification and identification it seems forgotten that we are ONE species. We will all end up with ONE fate. Not a bunch of different ones based upon which book one decided to believe. So everyone's final destination is the same ... you just choose which path you decide to take to get there. Some people choose easy paths, some hard ones. I prefer the one that better helps others and myself move forward. The churchies are welcome to believe what they want. They're not going anywhere any different.