IMHO, an easier explanation is that complexity, chaos and the unknown are scary, very very scary.

Things are a lot less scary and a lot more simple if all complexity is explained away by Deity, nothing important is random but rather controlled by said Deity and the unknown is replaced by some fable around Deity.

A mother losing her child in an Earthquake is easier to handle at an emotional level if "It was the will of God and that child went to Heaven" (which is pretty much what the typical Catholic Priest will say) than having to face it being merelly random bad luck and that young person she loved so much being gone forever. (It's not by chance that for example Mormons during the period when they're supposed to go out and preach their religion around the World will look at obituaries to find people to try to convert).