@Baddiel Hi David, Heard your podcast with Paul Chowdhury. Every question you raised can be answered by studying neurotheology, and why the brain's default is to allow delusional states due to neuroplasticity, as well as the intersection between survival instinct, fear and those states.
Got an account to tell @Baddiel his ideas on Chowdhury's podcast are mostly correct but also that there's neuroscience proving and explaining it. But @Baddiel, probably sanely, does not accept DMs. Ah well. Neurotheology explains the delusion, survival instinct explains why.