Is Religion used as a way of controlling the weak minded?

Question

A number of history books i have read have suggested that religion was used as a method to control people. i.e. If you don't do what the bible and church say you will go to hell or be punished.

They also suggest that religion is one of the biggest money making businesses in the world. I have seen proof of this while browsing a God Channel and seeing videos selling £60. If they really wanted to save our souls shouldn't they sell them in HMV/Virgin for £5

I believe i could fabricate a story to make people feel better about their lives and the questions they can't answer.

Is religion still used as way controlling people with something missing in their lives?

Answer 1

the Papacy is worth Billions!!! the Church these days is trying to pass itself off as an organisation of dogooders, but the truth still remains that the Church is just another profiteering corporation. If it is about saving, helping and charity, why is the Catholic church one of the biggest stockholders on the planet.?
they don't have the same control over you as they used too, but now it is all about merchandise and money in the coffers, its a business like any other, but instead of advertising in the paper r on TV, they have the captive audience of the congregation. How much money do they need? think about the Pope and the Vatican, why do they live in Palaces filled with riches while the children of third world countries die of Starvation. religion is the biggest crime against humanity

Answer 2

I have to say this, if you believe in God that is, have a understanding you would know the people follow because they love the Lord, not because they are being 'controled',
You are controled in a consentration camp, not following by your own free will.

It is not about feeling better, when does try your best to do what is right feel better, not that it is always bad. Example, a leader Joel Olsteen says live your best life now, and has sold millions of these books, not saying anything about Jesus til the end, all about 'feel goog chruch' stuff. But the believers of Christ know that is not what will get you to heaven....yet many follow joel because they want the feel good feeling. Not that it is the same as what God says but that is there choice to follow.

I compleatly understand what you mean, about the money for the books, but you have to think about a few things, we Christains are 'soposed' to give 10% it is commanded in the Bible, most DON'T, But that is for helping the people in the community, paying the lights and water bills, the expences of the house....and being on the air, just for grins find out how much it costs to run a 30 minute show...I know that for a 1 minute commercial it cost $60,000
So it is not like 'they' pocket the money and if they are they will be exposed....Ole Joel has been autited by the IRS.

God is what is missing. Religion is and will be a divider...God never said to make up religions, He said put no other god before me....#1 on the Ten Commandments, and I think people put their religion and traditions before God.
You have to have a strong mind to follow, it is not week minded people, no one can stick with it weak minded. It is about knowing and loving. They have to have understanding, so I woulds say that isn't true about weak minded.

Answer 3

It may be hard for some people to comprehend this, but there are those of us who actually enjoy our religion for no other reason than we like what we like. We're not weak-minded, we're no more or less oppressed than anyone else in the world, and we're typically aware of those times when someone is attempting to manipulate us. Religion plays a role in our life because we've made a conscious decision to be a part of it -- not because we're too fat, dumb, and happy to know that we're being conned. And speaking of manipulative behavior, Karl Marx had his own agenda and didn't exactly qualify as the most neutral observer. He had his own reasons for wanting to see religion wiped off the face of the earth, and what better way to accomplish that than by convincing people that religion was a way that they were being victimized by the rich and powerful? Marx was about as objective and disinterested as Fox News.

Answer 4

It took me a 20 years to finally release the last of the Catholic guilt that I was reared to believe.
Religions are dangerous and are a tool of control. Ironically, as a non-religious person, the phrase 'the devil works in mysterious ways' comes to mind. The symbol of the devil represents control, bondage, slavery, ignorance, darkness and repression. Are these not the very core devices of most major religions? I have 2 questions for the 'believers'.

1. Can you really trust a religion which asks you not to question your faith, but rather, accept it, even though there is absolutely no evidence that your god exists?

2. There are there so many different religions all claiming to be the true faith. Has it never occurred to you that you might be in the 'dud' one?

Conclusion: Religion is a psychological trap which cruelly preys on the innocent. A whole person does not require a set of out-moded rules to satisfactorily live a moral and conscious life. My happiness was found once I realised this and freed myself from the oppression.

Answer 5

Im my honest opinion, yes. I know the religious people are going to give me a low rating, but well, thats just my opinion. I did the "God" thing for 10 years and I never felt what everybody else seemed to be feeling, but thats just me. If someone is religious, and happy, then by all means, get down with your bad self. For me, It just never clicked.

-In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can't hold a candle to a clergyman. 'Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.
Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you.
He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy ****!

Answer 6

As a teacher I was once accused of "controlling" the students. In Teachers College we used the term "external discipline", a step toward "internal discipline". Do you really feel a successful life can be had without discipline? Can the physical body prosper when you eat anything you want? Do you believe it's the Church's job to help you feel better about your life? Jesus loved the woman caught in adultery, but he didn't just encourage her to keep up the affair. His most famous words may have been "Sin no more!". That involves discipline, doesn't it?

Answer 7

it defiantly was in the past and still is now (though not as preachy)

back in the middle ages Christians took all different parts of the bible to allow them to say they were doing gods will even if it contradicted the ten commandments.

today the world has got christian fanatics living in the USA Muslim fanatics living in the Arab countries. the only real religion i can see that is not trying to convert people and rage war is Buddhists (i could be wrong though)

Answer 8

It is a popular stereotype of Christianity It certainly can be that, or anything else one cares to cut it down to (justification for slavery, apartheid, and other institutionalized sin comes readily to mind), but it can also be infinitely more. Christian thought has a power and clarity to it that I have never seen elsewhere. I certainly haven't found such clarity and lucidity in contemporary Western philosophy. Questions have been the heart and soul of Judaism and Christianity for millennia. As for me, Christianity is more a call to rebellion than an insistence on narrow conformity, more a challenge than a set of certainties.

Answer 9

only the weak minded would fall prey to religion, others that have more of a complex rational and logical brain are the ones that realise that religion is false, we are the evolved ones that have managed to pull ourselves out from underneath the hard fist of religious theism to be able to see life for what it is, an amazing fact of evolutionary brilliance. God played no part in it, and we makeof it what we will.

Answer 10

religion is a medium like many other mediumes : ceremonies ,advertisement , TV programes ,bookes and ... may be use as you say . mostly people in fact perform by using complex of these .
religion there isnt independentaly and you can not show by your finger the special thing and name it religion