Everyone has motivations, and taking out religion deprives the author of the means of explaining motivations of characters through that prism. It might not be needed in a world where the divine is immanent in places and through avatars, and it seems like Jordan was perhaps initially thinking in that way, not only with the Forsaken, but also with the odd Green Man in the first book. However, he never really developed that idea and quickly moved away from it. I think it was a mistake. I can't think of other fantasy series that are bereft of religion the way Wheel of Time is, though I'll admit I don't read a ton of them.
It isn't a lack of "faith", they have loads of THAT, so much as... Complete and unquestioning certainty.
Personally at it's core it is the stereotypical "Scientist who believe only in logic, reason, and that which can be scientifically proven"... After you give said scientist the ability to 100% prove the existence of everything from fate, God, the soul, to just out and out magic.
The weird thing is how the bloody HELL the mindset survived the Breaking... It's as if after having proven the undeniable existence of such things, they decided to program their findings into the recently proven to exist genetic memory humanity(aka:the old blood) so as to stop any future holy war... Having forgotten, of course, that they had just proven the existence of Gods perfectly capable of starting up their own.
WoT humans are the type that if they met some kind of new god, would have no problem believing in their divinity, they can see their power with their own two eyes after all, but... Would nevertheless try and haggle out their every last miracle and blessing... Would likely end up rather pissing off some more egotistical deities.
Edit: And mind... The AoL was the age that kept it's entire population under the effects of happy-fun-time trees 24-10.
They had undeniable proof of the One Power, but the Creator and Dark One aren't actually proven to exist on a mass scale until Lanfear/Meiren let the Dark One loose in the 2nd Age and he turned out to be sentient, from what we know of that moment Mieren wasn't expecting anything other than a possible new source of power for Channeling. We never really see any evidence that prior to this anyone had proof of a living Creator. In fact they seemed far more vested in scientific uses and origin of the Power and perhaps only gave a nod to the Creator's existence from earlier Ages (such as our own) where there may well have been holy wars fought until the OP discovery, perhaps the catalyst for acceptance of "one true god". I got the impression that in the AOL people primarily thought of the OP as an energy source (ala Nuclear Power) and the rest was mostly social nicety. Of course that isn't to say that there was NO belief at all ... non-Channelers may well have viewed Channelers as something akin to demi-gods or angels or demons if there was a system of faith we are unaware of.
Well, look at what we know. We know that they can prove the existence of the soul because the OP can enter act with it. Touch it. Effect it, even remove it. Indeed, once removed we know that by WoT metaphysics you don't even NEED it or any other ability to feel the lack of a soul. It is simply something you can feel when you touch them.
With "out and out magic" we have quite a few things. From the Voice's ability to cause even dead plant matter to grow to the singer's will while seemingly pulling matter out of thin air to do so, to... Everything about the Finn.
Fate?... Well they had more then a few precogs for one, and as kick-you-in-the-ass as the Wheel can be... Even Third Agers have more then enough on that end.
No knowledge of the Creator?
I think you are forgetting something. They were studying the World of Dreams, the place between dimensions, and vacuoles, bubbles on the outside of the Pattern, and they drilled into the Dark One's prison... Which is outside of the Pattern.
Which means that they were studying the very nature of the Pattern, and knew how to find it's edge. Thus they would know that the OP comes outside of it.
Hell, they would also know something of what happens to souls between lives at that.
... Being able to manifest the Light also kind of helps.
Besides... There's this cosmic logic computer that runs all of existence along predetermined routes, adgusting them as needed, and can be made to glitch out... "Oh well, I guess it just kind of 'happened' in the Big Bang that we just proved never happened because time is endless"... I mean, having rather easily proven the existence of Fate, ether they then think there is a "God", or they dub the Wheel God.
But as far as seeing the One Power as an energy source... Well yeah. That's what I was saying about how people in WoT seem to see such things. Very matter of fact. Very... Businesslike. There is something of the "we well survive, the Light willing, and if the Light doesn't will... Well, we will still survive" in it, but even more...
Well, look at the Forsaken, or hell, ANY of the Darkfriends.
There is like... ONE "true believer" in the whole bunch, everyone else is one out of ether fear, desperation, or more commonly out and out "I want something, and you can give it to me in exchange for things" about it. Yet almost no one in WoT so much as doubts the existence or POWER of the Dark One. Hell, those that do need only say one word to disprove those doubts.
It really depends at what point you start calling a complicated set of beliefs and the complete and total faith in them a "religion".
To people in WoT is more akin to "water is wet" then a "religion". The Weirdness is... The fact that the view it as such.
Hell, Look at the Lord Dragon... Next to no one in universe actually seems to get WHAT the Dragon is, or what what they are thus would mean... And they never seem to bother asking the question ether.
A soul that has literally been fighting "Last Battles" for infinity, that mere existence proves the 100% success rate of, and... This never even crosses their minds.
Channelers hold "important roles" because their link to the OP. Gives them power. The OP comes from the the Light/Creator, they are "cleics", hell even "keepers of knowledge" but... Again, WoT has a very "practical" view of such things. They hold that power not out of some spiritual enlightenment, but of the practical uses, and dangers, of their power.
And they most defiantly don't worship the natural world. The Pattern somewhat, and the Wheel, but both of those things ultimately lead to "what put that in place?"... Otherwise known as "what created that?". "The Light" is about the only thing they even come close to actually "worshiping", but even it... Not quite. They "pray" to it, and believe, know even, it has the power to do anything about those prayers, but... They don't expect anything. There is no... "System" to it. There is no "do X to get Y". The Light will do what the Light will do. No more nor less, and it will likely do nothing besides.
To the average Joe the Light doesn't so much "act" as "acted" by way of making and directing the Wheel to weave whatever it is to weave. The Light "itself" seems more directly involved with the soul and the afterlife then the living world. "Salvation and rebirth" and all that.
But "the natural world"? WoT practically has the Force going on, with even rocks and places having "feelings", and yet... This is not common knowledge. It very easily could be, and yet... Isn't. Meaning that it's not seen as important enough information.
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