This topic is incredible, where has it been hiding?
I've read Jaynes's Origin of Conciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind and have a bit to say about it. It is a topic unto itself.
Cats leave food for their "masters" (hard to believe any cat thinks it has a master, in the way I understand it from the many I have owned). Maybe it is for all three reasons presented. As a gift, as a learning opportunity, and for random fun. Maybe, depending on the cat, it could be for all reasons at the same time. Who says the cats have to have only one reason for their behavior?
(one of my cats shit on The Origin of Conciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, was this an attempt at literary criticism?)
Any mutation is theoretically possible, however, any mutation that requires an energy expenditure better be able to justify itself in the struggle for survival. Also evolution is small steps, not complete leaps to complex organs IMHREO (In my honestly reasonably educated opinion).
I would imagine someone would have to define "what is religion" before ascribing it to animals, or indeed the human animal (would you prefer ape, how about primate?).
Seems like in addition to defining what is religious belief, one must make some pretty overwhelming assumptions concerning what ancestral species may or may not be able to comprehend, possibly for quite a ways back.
After all, if religious belief is caused by a longing for a nurturing parent, that could go back to the first nurturing parent (dinosaurs and proto-opossums!?). Besides, who really is Dr. Dolittle? how does one know what a cat really thinks? (experential evidence may be somewhat revealing, but by its very nature is limited at present time)
What a topic. Let's rock.