i see it like this, when the ancient men felt the overwhelming power arise, sudden and sharp, they felt a doubt wether it was them as the cause, as comparative to the feelings tehy were feeling, it felt surreal to their small minds, so they posit a stronger character, which is the humane ideals personified(God), in those times it was still primitave and the god idea wasnt so developed but nonetheless, so such would the origin of religion be, the manifestation of mans strange feelings of power into a idea

so it would be natural to construct beliefs that metaphysically interpret the world, so the best way to counter this is prob just to be a sceptic and cross-evaluate everything with everything, duh