Human brains evolved a propensity for religion because humans who felt they lived in a meaningful, ordered world survived better. They were probably less stressed out.
What if consciousness and the illusion of free will evolved for similar reasons: to enhance well-being and reduce stress? We would be pretty stressed out if we had consciousness but it only served to let us witness the fixed choices our brain was making. Feelings of helplessness are very stress-inducing, so consciousness without the illusion of free will would not be an advantage. Consciousness and free will might have evolved hand in hand as those with a tendency to self-awareness and feelings of making their own choices survived better than those without these tendencies and feelings. They would survive better because the feeling of conscious free will reduced stress and boosted their immune system.
Perhaps consciousness evolved first as a result of language. Consciousness thus might have created advantages and problems. Maybe humans went through a phase where some of them had no feelings of free will (these presumably did not survive). Perhaps the free-will component is a recent evolutionary event. This is certain: ultimately the survivors were those who felt conscious free will. I can't think of a better reason for consciousness/free will than that of immune-system booster.
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