You are confusing religion with a religious organization or belief system. Religion in it's clearest defined form is any specific system of belief about diety (or lack thereof) and will often involve rituals. Also, a code of ethics and/or a philosophy of life also full under the definition of religion. So Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Humanism, Islam, Judaism, Native American Spirituality, Wicca, and other world belief systems are under the "Religion" definition.
These verses you paraphrase are part of the Law given to the Israelite. Much of the Old Testament was in turn adopted by Islam. Many of these laws are still in use and enforced by some Muslim sects today.
One thing that God has given us, ALL of us, is free will. That includes your right to reject him, and the sicko so-called "chosen representatives" to pervert all that God is about. Your gross generalization about "the church" is unwarranted. The body of believers on earth are still human beings. Unfortunately there are some that become a perverse mockery of what God intends for us.
Your conclusion that it is so "obviously a man made response to fear of the unknown" is exactly what I would expect from someone who has a preconceived and entrenched attitude about faith. I take it you are speaking of Christianity? Yes, it has been perverted and misused many times over history. But it has also done unimaginable good by those who practice their faith in the sense of, and with the goal for, showing their fellow man the love and face of God. At least in some small, possibly imperfect human way.
