Of course it is disputable. However, I would hold that whether denounced, abused, abandoned or denied by some, human communities experience an inherent drive, need to physically express their common values, icons, stories in communal expression that has continuity of form. The reality that some rituals become ridiculous, distorted, imposed, are elevated as if they are the value (idolatry) or that we miss the point that a lot of what we actually do is ritual (ritualistic) doesn't alter the fact or assumption. 
"Ritual is arguably a universal feature of human social existence: just as one cannot envision a society without language or exchange, one would be equally hard-pressed to imagine a society without ritual"(Kevin Carrico, "Ritual", Journal of Cultural Anthropology). I would hold this for "disguised" ritual even among those who deny.
I would suggest that our church has, in many respects, co-opted this need from our social gene and imposed a didactic construct and calls it "liturgy".