"The God Delusion" first impressions

I have just started reading the latest book by Richard Dawkins called The God Delusion. The title speaks for itself, the book is an all out attack on organized religion as well as the concept of God or any kind of supernatural being. So far the arguments have been pretty solid, and the tone unapologetic, never sparing ridicule in places where it is deserved, Dawkings making good use of metaphors as he goes along.
As I continue reading the book, I'll be looking for answers to the following questions (some of which Richard Dawkins may not address):

• Why if God is a delusion, has religion been such a significant force in human history?
• How did religion come about in the first place?
  
• Did other hominid species / homo sapiens predecessors have religion? If so, what forms did it take?
  
• Did religion arise first as a device for individual comfort or as a device to control the masses from the top?
• What evolutionary advantages did religion provide in the early days of humankind?
• Why did religion tend to evolve from polytheistic to monotheistic in most areas of the world?
• Why is there a trend for more secularism / atheism now?
• Why is the US the most religious country in the First World
  

So far for me, one of the most enlightening things about the first few chapters of the book has been quotes from the American Founding Fathers, Einstein, and a few other historical figures that indicate their atheism. The following quotes shed a different light on the people we normally like to think of as religious.

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. - Albert Einstein

The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naive. - Albert Einstein

So the interesting point here is that contrary to popular belief, Einstein was not a religious man. Despite his frequently quoted statement about God playing dice with the universe, apparently he meant the word God in a poetic way, as a synonym to nature, and not in any mystical, supernatural sense.

The second interesting series of quotes comes from the founding fathers:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. - George Washington and John Adams, treaty with Tripoli


To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say that they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise ... without plunging into the fathomless abyss of dreams and phantasms. I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence. - Thomas Jefferson

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. - Thomas Jefferson

The interesting point is, yet again, contrary to popular belief, the United States of America was NOT founded as a Christian nation. In fact just about all the founding fathers were as atheist as they could be for their time, and wished for a secular state. Quite an eye-opener.