Here's what I think...

"God" is a philosophical concept that has eternally existed in everyone's mind, mostly as a coping mechanism in times of need. Not much different from similar concepts like "hope", "love" "belief" etc etc. Probably came into popular being as a way for the few enlightened ones to explain to the common person why certain things are the way they are. God is a psychological necessity. It is way for the human psyche to keep insanity in check. Without the concept of God, how else would a human being exlpain away all the mysteries of life, and death, and why the universe is, and why am I. God is a good concept and it is neither evil, nor devine. 

Religion, on the other hand, is purely man-made. It has hijacked the concept of God and has been using it to gain control over people's minds. If I may use an analogy here, when a child does not behave in a way a parent wants them to, and the parent knows there's no way he can explain to the child what a "negative consequence" is, the parent tends to personify "consequence" into something the child understands...and fears - "if keep doing that, boogeyman (haungooji) will get you". This is exactly what most religion does. Religion makes a boogey man out of "God". Any person that can think for themselves can easily see through this manipulation. Unfortunately, many people are too distressed, distracted or down-and-out to think for themslves, and that's what religion takes advantage of.

Just my $0.02