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It could also be the death of synaptic connections that allow a coherent story of reality, the kinds which have been shown to result in religious belief. An alternative path is weakening rational ability and strengthening the fantasy of religion with, for instance, repetitive actions, rites, or practices, like posturing, prayers, and other anti-rational reflections.
That would be a perfect setup for believing in religion after a perception altering, brain damaging event, because the stronger cortical connections would be preserved, while the fact and evidence based structures would be weak and would be weaker after the event.
Ideally you would mould a child's brain early, and throughout life, to achieve this kind of effect.