Longest post I've read end to finish in a while. I think you're right that the lack of belief is key to understanding why a lot of ppl seem lost, depressed and caught up in things that are irrelevant.

I too need to be mindful every once in a while of what I am doing and then reconnect with my beliefs and values (which are not religious). I do think that reason, science and philosophy can cover all the same grounds as religions have done throughout the years, but it takes a hell of a lot more work to build one's own moral paradigms and resulting life philosophy up from scratch, and then figur out how to live by them, than to attend church and get the answers given to you...

Hardly anyone I know put in that effort.