Not sure if this will help you in your paper or not, but I used to be a "Jesus Freak." I went to church all the time, I brought non-believing friends to my youthgroup activities etc.... This was all from the time i was like 10-16. Then I started developing my mind a little bit. I was reading the bible more and more on my own, and I had tons and tons of questions. So naturally I went to church, and asked my pastor, other people in the church all these questions. The basic responses i got were "you can't ask that; just believe." Well I'm not one who can just believe something for no reason. Then I started reading more and more about other types of religion, and seeing that although in practice they're very different, at their core they're very simliar. What really clinched it for me was finding out that there are other gospels out there that depict Jesus as just a regular dude, and not a diety. But these books were intentionally left out of the bible because the contradict the theme of the New Testiment. It was then that I stopped going to church, and started thinking for myself.
What it all boils down to is people feel a need to have purpose. A need to belong to something, and a need to hope for something good in the future/afterlife. As of right now, i don't know if there is a god or gods. Yeah it's something I think I would like to believe, but I dont know for sure either way. So I'm going to drink some beers, get drunk every now and then, have sex with women before marriage, say what I want, think what I think, and not really give a shit about what other people think about it. I dont think religion is a bad thing untill it is forced upon others. If you have your beliefs, and stick to them 100% that's cool, I respect that, but dont shove it down my throat. I've been down that road, and it didn't work for me, so respect my standpoint is all I ask.