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I vote for whoever the hell it was who started organized religion. What religion did was threaten the rich and powerful with eternal punishment if they misused their resources, and soothe the underpriveleged with promises of immortal paradise as long as they crossed their t's and dotted their i's. This kept enough people in line to avoid gluttonous annihilation, in my opinion.
Organized religion developed at a very crucial time of rapid human expansion and development, and I think it prevented everything from devolving into chaos. It became a de facto governmental body in most regions, providing essential public service in exchange for the tithe (in the Christian world). There was a time when virtually the only way to learn reading and writing was to become a man of the cloth, and what they produced and protected through dark times forms the basis of our understanding of the past. Thomas Cahill talks extensively of how Irish monks secreted away invaluable knowledge for hundreds of years while barbarians ravaged Europe.
There was a time when we didn't know a lot about the world and could largely be convinced of divinity. God was the rule against evil and the reward system for the good. The Koran and its brethren were also exhaustively detailed law books, and while much of it seems arbitrary now, it was the law and it was needed, even if it was only a leap of faith that sealed the deal.
Unfortunately, the organization of religion led to its own problems, like the Inquisition, witch hunts, an epidemic of pedophilia, institutionalized misogyny and homophobia, self-appointed divine conduits, and other symptoms of man's weakness towards the seduction of raw power.
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"The idea that money doesn't buy you happiness is a lie put about by the rich, to stop the poor from killing them." -- Michael Caine
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