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Religion is just a long-standing tradition with its origins in honoring animals and nature. As time went on, animals were given characteristics (a la "big bad wolf"), and these characteristics were then applied to natural phenomenon (big bad wolf = darkness, for example). Once animals that were worshipped became natural phenomena, they could transition to human-like gods (darkness = bad man), and then eventually into the abstract gods of the modern age (bad man = abstract concept of evil).
Thus, religion exists (in a sense), because it is based on reality. However it doesn't ACTUALLY exist, since the very things being proclaimed in religion are usually made up (like objective goodness or sins or demons). This is why atheists cannot disprove religion, and theists cannot prove it. It is a question where both "sides" are right and wrong. For atheists, they are right because religion is made up, but they're also wrong, since the building blocks of religion ARE all real. For theists they're right because these metaphors have a basis in truth, but they're also wrong because they're not legitimately real.
