Early Bionicle (like MNOLG era) was different. The Tohunga and Toa were both much more robotic and there was an almost WestWorld quality to the story. I wouldn't say it was religious so much as a story about characters that were existentially lost. The Tohunga lived in a post-apocalyptic existence with only myth and legend to give them meaning. The Toa were thrown into a situation with no intrinsic knowledge of self or purpose other than what the Tohunga expected them to be. Obviously that all had to change as the property evolved, but that first 2ish years had something special.