> With the way things are going, it's almost guaranteed that religious power will be a thing of the past as soon as we can prove other life/civilizations exist besides the one here on Earth.

I'm not so sure about that. Buddhism in particular goes to great length to emphasize it's teachings apply to all sentient beings in all universes past and present. We may be hard pressed to escape it's presumption.

I believe most faiths take a similar approach even if they aren't quite as explicit about it.