Religion created to control people?

Anyone who is part of a religion automatically gives part of his/her sovereignty to someone else: God. Also, individuals must give up certain freedoms to the religion, such as not eating a certain type of food or must dress a certain way. Maybe these are just what the people who created the religion wanted or hated. I'm not too savvy with the Islamic religion, but aren't they not allowed to eat pork because "someone" saw pigs rolling around in mud? There really needs clarification of the identity of this being, was he/she the person who created the religion, or was he/she god? Imagine this now: all someone needs to do to make millions of others do his/her bidding is to create a religion. Religion also inhibits individual initiative, because no one can ever be greater than God. Throughout history, powerful ranked clergies and kings have used their relationship with God to control others. Forget the Pope and Cardinals, even reverends who listen to confessions have some control over others when they give advice. Of course their advice must be good since they are partly from God. Remember such infamous individuals as Cardinal Richelieu of France? didn't he use his religious background to eventually control the king and France? didn't the Russian monk Rasputin use his supposed "holy healing" powers to control the tsarina? Didn't kings all throughout history all throughout the world claim they had the divine right to rule? Didn't the Church control the lives of ordinary people during medieval times, kinda like Stalin?Holy wars, crusades, were they REALLY in the name or God--or individual greed? Religion can drive people to kill and be killed, ie clerics in occupied Iraq calling for "holy wars." You never see the clerics themselves grab guns and try to assault technologically advanced U.S. tanks, it's the poorly armed, poorly armoured common followers. Sure they have the right to try and overthrow a foreign invader, but i mean Saddam wasn't too concerned about religion when he went around killing all the kurds. Besides, it wasn't like the U.S was gonna make Iraq a colony or something, all they wanted to do was change the current ruler.Discuss

Do you mind if I help you clarify the original post before we proceed? I edited you a bit. Is this ok to start the topic? We need to keep the opening posts short and to the point. PBThis message has been edited by AdminPhat, 04-10-2005 04:02 AMThis message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 01-22-2006 01:38 AM