1. It began with animism. What sets apart higher animals is its ability to form stories. Stories contain agents with intentions and how those intentions evolve. What sets apart humans is our ability to compress stories into words. Thus we told ourselves the story that everything in the universe had an intention. For example: we used to think Sun jumped out of the horizon like we arose from the bed. Or to be more dramatic the Sun was born from where Sky Father, and the Earth Mother formed a union i.e. the Horizon.
2. Then we did polytheism for a while. Because we wanted a story of the universe which is simpler to understand. With fewer actors, and their intentions.
3. Monotheism is best update to what I described above as the “Intentional Model of the Universe”. The entire universe is operating according to the intentions of one God. e.g. Islam takes it too far, they believe even a candle lights up because God wills it.
4. Atheism is still a controversial update which is true, but it is hard to accept because we have solved how inanimate matter can be configured to have intentions. i.e. Artificial Intelligence. Once we figure that out atheism will become a more widespread belief system.

Christianity is somewhere between 2. and 3. It tries to be both a polytheism (trinity), and a monotheism. It was necessary so as to smoothen the upgrade of the entire world to 3.

Monotheism also allowed more room for development of Science because we had to see God as a systems developer who automates systems according to laws and set it in motion, so that God can focus its attention on stuff that require more intentional manipulation.

Polytheistic science had it taken off could have slowed down the development of science by making everything part of the intention of a god of which there are many.

Atheistic science will eventually mark the then nearly extinct humans as the bootrappers of sapience in the known Universe. Beliefs beyond that point may be computational and held by AI.