People needed to believe in gods, if only because it was so hard to believe in people.
The fact that people died was just an inconvenience, like them being out when you called.
p 192
'You see, jewellery isn't just something she wears,' said the ghost of Teppicymon XXVII. 'It's part of who she is.' My word, he added to himself, that's probably an Insight. Why is it so much easier to think when you're dead?