IMHO, I don't think humans need religion to survive. Here are my counter arguments said above:
- Just because religion "helps" or is a "motivator" does not in anyway specify it is a requirement for survival. Other things can help or motivate like money.
- Just because religion helps one person doesn't mean it helps society as a whole. I can give money to the homeless. Sure it will help them out, but it no way will it help society because they will most likely spend it on booze. It just depends how it is used.
Now on to my personal views. Religion in my view was created in a time and place where people didn't know how things worked. Technology was of course very,very limited. Diseases, hunger and other natural things made life pretty awful. With the limited knowledge people had, I honestly don't think that people could live a sane life without some belief of a higher being. The idea of religion and God(s) was, I think, probably the best thing ever for humanity's survival. It gave a sense of who you are and reasons why you were there. It also gave peace of mind that God can change your life since you can't, and usually thought it can happen through prayer and/or sacrifice. Now look at us. Science now is proving more and more that what we thought God did actually happened by chance. Look at our lives now. Humans now literally control every aspect of their life. We rule the world. This is the reason why I don't think we need religion now. We no longer need an explaination for why things happen. We now can control the part of our lives where people once asked God for help. Now we ask the government. Even the majority of the people are not even strongly religious, and yet the quality of life is still improving.