I don't think the world needs religion, nor do I think it really needed religion in the first place.
I think an awful lot of the reasons people say that religion is (or more often, was) necessary can be explained through behavioral evolution.
For example, the idea that we needed religion to provide us with a reason to be moral suggests that, otherwise, we would all be immoral. From a genetic point of view, being moral has all sorts of advantages:
Having a moral mate helps you to be sure that the kids you are raising are really your own, not someone else's. Ergo, being moral makes you a more attractive mate. Monogamy has been adopted by other species as well, and they don't have a religious rationale for doing so.....at least I don't think they do.
Not killing your neighbors has been an immensely successful strategy for all sorts of creatures, including our own (herding couldn't exist without it).
I believe you can use similar analysis to explain nearly all the behaviors endorsed by religions - at least those with which I am familiar. (I have seen a very clever genetic explanation for altruism - which many use as proof that we have somehow risen above our genes)
Similarly, the idea that religion provided a cohesive glue to keep societies together suggests that they would fly apart without it. Again, the genetic advantages of communal living and sharing resources I think makes grouping inevitable. Here's an interesting thought experiment: which came first, the village or the church?
(If you want to learn more about how genetics can influence (NOT CAUSE!) behavior (and I think it is really fascinating) I suggest you read Richard Dawkins "The Selfish Gene.")
In short, I don't think religion is or was necessary. The really interesting question to me is, if it wasn't necessary, why does nearly (if not every) society develop a religion very early in its history?
My hypothesis is that religion, in the absence of science, is the obvious answer when a society starts to wonder why things happen.
Why is it raining? Why did my crops fail and my neighbor's didn't? Why did that man die?
And, most importantly, how can I change the outcome in the future?
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