What about the concept that religion is entirely man-made for the purpose of controling society?

Question

I grew up going to church and believing the teachings, but when I went to a christian college and took a religion class, my eyes were opened to a concept I had not considered before. There is a concept that in the early stages of society, man developed religion as a way to keep order in society. Without an afterlife, there would be no reason to conform to society or it's morals and life would be chaotic. The differences between the religions is because the principals were developed by people in different regions, so they created their own rules and values. It makes sense if you think about it, which was very troubling for me. I had never before questioned religion.

Answer 1

um, its 100% correct. I thought of this as soon as I started hearing about all of the mystical supernatural mumbo jumbo being taught in Church. Humanity will eventually evolve to the point where it nbo longer needs religion to create morality...we will all be better off then

Answer 2

It was modern psychology developed in Germany in the late 1800's that eradicated the concept of the soul or spirit or the afterlife. The idea that man was just an "animal" was created at that time so that Germany could continue it's wars, and handle and control it's armies without concience. The result: 2 World Wars.... and the killing continues.
Until then man did not question his spiritual nature even if he still sought to understand it. The differences in religions are simply a product of this basic desire for spiritual understanding.

Consider this:

A society is capable of surviving for thousands of years unless it is attacked from within or without by hostile forces. Where such an attack occurs, the primary targets are it's religious and national gods and heroes,it's potential of leadership and the self respect and integrity of it's members.
If you look around you , you will find countless examples of these points. They scream at us every day from the newspapers and TV.
Probably the most critical point of attack on a culture is it's religious experience. Where one can destroy or undermine religious institutions then the entire fabiric of the society can be quickly subverted or brought to ruin.
For the last hundred years or so religion has been beset with relentless attack. You have been told it’s the “opiate of the masses “, that it’s unscientific, that it is primitive, in short , that it is a delusion.
The source of this kind of attack is always covert and hidden. It is promoted by a few who have a vested interest in a slave society.
Unfortunately these few rely on creating fear and insecurity in others
to forward and promote their enemy propaganda. These others feel correctly they have to defend themselves from an attack, but because the real enemy is hidden, they can be manipulated to attack what they really should be defending as they cannot see the real enemy.

The key here is that underneath all these attacks on organised religion there is one fundemental target:
The spirituality of man, your own basic spiritual nature, self respect and peace of mind.

By all means question man's use and manipulation of religion, but not it's fundemental message, don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Answer 3

Religion is one way people can gain control over others in a society. the other two are military and political. as long as those in charge of any of these three areas do their jobs properly and the society thrives then they remain in power. if the society starts struggling then another group will take over. when interactions between differing societies come together and an exchange of ideas takes place then the Religious Belief System of each society may change
( or be contaminated ) by incorporating the other society's ideas into their own. by this interacting societies change over a period of time and thus do not " just stagnate and die. "

Answer 4

Religion, as you say, is but a cloud to control the masses...no pun intended if one is Catholic. Religion was a good way to both keep order and explain the unexplainable without having to find the science to back it up at the time.

Since that time, science has explained some things that were once thought as mystical. Odds are, as the future unfolds, this will continue to happen and most "mystic" based religions will become fringe at best.

Answer 5

There is some thought for this. But this doesn't really explain morals. Man would want to do what feels good for him. Also look at history. There is Jesus that came back from death. This isn't just in the Bible. If it were made up, would people die for this belief? I think not. Some religions, then are made up.

Answer 6

Your first mistake is when you went off to a Christian college, They teach you what They want you to believe in, You don't teach yourself. Now you say religion was develope by man, Then what was going on in the Garden of Eden, God was the one that walked amoung Adam & Eve, Did Adam just come up with a thought & act like God spoke to him. That is not a concept but a fact that God did talk to Adam.

Answer 7

I do think there is some truth to that. I think however it was more of a way for the church to have power and control over the population.

Though I do beleive in God, in Jesus as our saviour, I also think most organized religions are corrupted, based on truth but altered in order for that church to have power and control over it's people.

Answer 8

I'm sorry to hear that you went to a "Christian" college and had your eyes "opened". It wasn't by any chance a liberal college was it? The reason I ask is because those institutions are notorious for sending young people who seem to be on track for a career in ministry off the path and sometimes into a life that bears little or no fruit for our Lord.

Romans 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

To answer your question more directly, the concept that religion is entirely man-made for the purpose of controlling society is a "man-made" concept that puts the cart before the horse so to speak. It is like other questions I have seen here where people ask why we give God human qualities when in actuality the Bible teaches that we were made in God's image and not that we assign attributes to Him.

People who don't have the Spirit of God, who are wise in their own eyes, look back at history and they see religious leaders exercising control over the populace usually in league with or as political leaders. They look at primitive cultures or they look at the hey day of the Pope and they see an effect and mistake it for the cause.

No one decided to try and convince people that God exists as a clever psychological ploy to control people. Instead unscrupulous individuals over the centuries have used this innate awareness as a means of gaining control over others.

As to your correct observation that if there is no afterlife or divine moral lawgiver then we have no reason to submit to authority, that is one of the areas used to prove God's existence. If there is no God then we are all just a cosmic accident spinning through space on an insignificant ball of dust with no purpose or meaning to our lives. Each person ought to be entirely selfish and get what they can out of their short and miserable existence only submitting to authority when to do otherwise might hinder their opportunities to enjoy what they can in this life.

But people are not built that way. We have an innate sense that some things are "wrong" and some are "right". That comes from God.

Romans 2:14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Answer 9

actual there is just one God, that's in our experience of right and incorrect, it tells us as quickly as we do some thing incorrect. it particularly is human nature to make communities in a society. Even in college infants make separate communities, so human beings made communities and then the communities began following a sequence of regulations, those regulations made a faith, then they mentioned the religion is leaded by employing our so and so God. i think of each and all of the God memories are guy made, actual they're only springing up tensions in the society.

Answer 10

There's every reason to be moral without a the concept of an afterlife. If you've only got one shot at life, you've got to make it count.