Real Motives behind creating religions?

I am a cynic.. Cant be helped.. In my opinion, the real motive of these people creating religions are to make themselves more powerful. So you may be asking in what sense? More powerful in the sense that they have an organisation that would support them throughout the years. After all, I think that all religions are created by humans who claim that they have been given a whisper from above to spread the message to the world. How can u be sure that these guys are not hearing things or worse making things up?

It's my opinion that religion is too diverse a creation to permit any substantial generalizations regarding its motives.

Originally posted by Andreas
I am a cynic.. Cant be helped.. In my opinion, the real motive of these people creating religions are to make themselves more powerful. So you may be asking in what sense? More powerful in the sense that they have an organisation that would support them throughout the years. After all, I think that all religions are created by humans who claim that they have been given a whisper from above to spread the message to the world. How can u be sure that these guys are not hearing things or worse making things up?

I agree with Alexg that religion is too diverse to make generalisations. However you are right in that sense that many of the 'religions' (or cults) of this modern era such as Scientology are mostly about power, wealth, influence etc.

For those 'prophets' that believe they are speaking for a 'higher power' scientifically are either lying or delusional.

Just my thoughts.

There's no doubt that Scientology was created for money.

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion

www.xenu.net...

But, I believe traditional religions (christianity, judaism, buddhism..) were/are trying to make sense of the world, the meaning of life, how we got here, and lay out a set of guidelines to follow in order to maintain satisfaction in not only your own life, but the lives of those around you.

[edit on 5-2-2007 by bluesquareapple]

Well, I agree but I disagree, . I know that makes absolutely no sense.

Here, I will make my view simple. I don't think that the original intention of religion was to be used for power. However,I do believe that from 325 A.D to the present, namely Christianity has certainly been used as a method of control through fear of "hell-fire" et cetera.

As far as Buddhism being used for control. Where? Islam is certainly used for control. Look at the rigid principles and such that they adhere to.

I agree that religions are simply too diverse to make generalizations about. The motives behind each could be very different.

Possible motives surely do include power, fear of the unknown, provision for dealing with grief or unmet expectations, social integration, etc.

Two reasons that seem to be seldom discussed here:

1) Rebellion / opposition against an existing religion.

2) To provide a sense of a bigger picture - a means for focusing on things outside of the self or the mundane.

Their ENTIRE purpose... was trying to take what peace seeking, intelligent people thought and taught and turning it into something that can be easily manipulated to use as a means of confusion...

Like taking something VERY simple to understand, adding a bunch of crap and boom, it seems impossible complex to understand.

Like that one stoner movie I remember watching with Hyde from that 70's show..

The two idiots saw a infomercial for Tiny Classified Ads, went through the whole movie telling people they owned a business for Tiny Classified Ads, (something quite simple) ... but as people would ask "Ad's about What?" they would cite the mantra... "It's complex" ... and every dipshiite bought it..

[example]I'm going to run around the world, looting, raping and killing people, and when anyone asks me "Why?" I just say God this, Bible that, Muhammad this, Buddha that ,,,,

Religions are about taking innocent, uneducated people and indoctrinating them from birth to enter a world of confusion, a hopeless search for something that can never be seen, considering we never even look at ANYTHING without having some preconceived description or label for it, even if it baffles our logic, we'll have color descriptions for it, size, and shape, tactile descriptions.. so really we've never used our eyes,... our eyes see something totally different than what we get in our head.. labels and what-not...

So if we've never even seen ourselves unbiasedly than how the heck to we imagine we can make some words make sense? ... especially without the author kicking around to shed some insight into his/her view...

Stupid people record smart people and analyze it, ....
Stupid people marvel at smart people, and smart people wish stupid people would give up the search and just be themselves, because they've never even SEEN themselves... its a long process and a difficult one...

The whole problem comes from instantly at birth being separated from yourself and being forced to search after something that you're not even sure exists, considering your idea of self came from your parents who are twice as blind as you.
Drop the books, burn em if you have to .. to get yourself away from it..
intellectual non-sense..
Sure the books are fine after you realize their empty words.. the nothingness of everything compiled in history, because than you can look at them from a solid perspective instead of looking at them from the perspective of floating with no foundation ... because we are told that ourself as a foundation is unacceptable (maybe cuz all those losers couldn't accept themselves!)
so when you decide to use the intangible YOU to view things, they themselves (the things you view) become intangible.
Because everything you see IS intangible because they are just word descriptions!

Today's organized religion more than likely evolved from
ancient shamanism....a type of proto religion.

source: shamana

Ancient tribal cultures relied on their shamans for healing,
the answering of fundamental questions such as where to look for food,
which roots and berries were harmful or medicinal,
and at a deeper level to answer questions about creation and meaning.

It was the shamans who developed stories of Gods and Goddesses
and creation myths that still inform our modern cultures.

however, if you click the [siberian_shamanism] page on menu at the bottom,
you'll find this :

The shaman's profession is considerd psychically very dangerous
and there is a constant risk of insanity or death.

~~~~~~~~~~~


religion for the masses, has since become more social and political
the military has fortunately distanced itself from the public institution of religions' tentacles...
but the jury is still out on occult religion being intertwined with the elite class of world bankers (you've heard the names before)

Originally posted by PuRe EnErGy
Religions are about taking innocent, uneducated people and indoctrinating them from birth to enter a world of confusion...

That's like saying cars are about nothing but running people over, or knives are for nothing but committing suicide.

You are confusing religion's purpose with its bastardization.

That's not really fair.

And as for people not really "knowing themselves" because the blindfold of religion was wrapped around them at a young age...I have met many more people who blindly follow their parent's advice to hate religion than those who blindly follow their parent's advice to adhere to one.

I agree that it's wrong to blindly do anything, but I don't think you can talk like the church has the corner on that market.

at it's base, religion was not created with the pernicous intent
however, modern religions have it at their core

originally, religions were ways to explain things out of ignorance
myths
that is all religion is

modern religions all have control mechanisms in place
whether it be a book to adhere to
or a structure
they all have justifications for the most heinous crimes

i forgot who said it, but someone said that it was a shame that religions have hijacked morality

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
at it's base, religion was not created with the pernicous intent
however, modern religions have it at their core

Madness, I would go so far to say that it wasn't religion's intent for man, so much as it was man's intent for religion. If that makes any sense. Religion, in and of itself is not corrupt. I think religion has indeed been used and manipulated for corrupt purposes...

Originally posted by Essedarius

Originally posted by PuRe EnErGy
Religions are about taking innocent, uneducated people and indoctrinating them from birth to enter a world of confusion...

That's like saying cars are about nothing but running people over, or knives are for nothing but committing suicide.

You are confusing religion's purpose with its bastardization.

That's not really fair.

And as for people not really "knowing themselves" because the blindfold of religion was wrapped around them at a young age...I have met many more people who blindly follow their parent's advice to hate religion than those who blindly follow their parent's advice to adhere to one.

I agree that it's wrong to blindly do anything, but I don't think you can talk like the church has the corner on that market.

purpose? what purpose? to make people feel superior to some things and inferior to others?

Your argument is not applicable; you've met many more people who blindly follow their parents who were raised regardless of religion amongst a society heavily saturated in religious dogma.
There's a use for it, as I myself have spouted off using religious terminology.
I'm glad you agree on that point, but still I NEVER said it has the corner on the market, because by itself it's nothing, just words, fairy tales at best... its the people who have the corner on the market, and its a choice few of them.

The search for enlightenment should end. You already have everything you need, and more.. too much actually.... your store-house is filled to the brim with intellectual non-sense, although it took all of that non-sense to show us that we in effect know nothing outside of our pretty labels and languages that describe things inaccurately.
The bs is just a cycle of repetitive non-sense and your search will never end because there will never be an end to the interpretation and creation of words.

There is an old Sikh saying, "If you can't see God in everythang, you can't see God in anything."

I am a Spiritual Anarchist. Free the chains on your mind and the chains on your soul will melt away.

That doesn't mean I condemn religion. I did for a long time, but I came to understand that it's not my place to tell another person that their path is wrong. It is their place to find the path they know/feel is right for them.

You can only over throw religion for yourself, It is not your place to over throw it for another. That is up to them.

"If you can't see God in everything, you can't see God in anything."

Your path is your own, Just as another persons path is theirs.

Andreas is right. Religion is a very effective means of uniting and controlling people. If I want to coerce someone into doing something, is it more effective to say "I" want you to do X, or "God" wants you to do X?

Of course, if you use a "god" to accomplish your goals, you have to be very concerned about rival gods. That's why the biblical first commandment exists - "thou shalt have no other gods before me". If other tribal elders are marketing other gods, they can erode your power base. Maybe Moses was competing with other elders in his tribe, and Yahweh won out. It's all about power and control.

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth
Madness, I would go so far to say that it wasn't religion's intent for man, so much as it was man's intent for religion. If that makes any sense. Religion, in and of itself is not corrupt. I think religion has indeed been used and manipulated for corrupt purposes...

but is it not man that is at the center of religion?
we do not see religions form in nature
nobody has found a text that in the wild
it all comes from up here... in the head (pointing doesn't work so well on ATS)

religion is a product of man

State-sponsored religions seem to be primarily concerned with controlling dissent and re-directing desire.

If someone is more concerned with life after death, they're less bothered by things like poverty, war, disease, endless toil, and unfair caste-based social orders.

Most of the state-sponsored religions seem very similar to the Roman method of controlling the masses - bread and circuses. Give the people something to focus on, give them an outlet for their anger and their sadness and their desire, and they're less likely to show up at the estates of their 'betters' in the middle of the night, wielding pitchforks and torches.

Christianity has already been mentioned - but Hinduism is another good example. It's very popular in one of the most populous nations on earth, and for most people it seems to be little more than one festival after another, predicated on entertaining mythology.

Buddhism isn't much different, it focuses the energy and the intellect inwards, instead of outwards. Then there's Confucianism, which actually seems to make a religion out of cooperation and obedience to civil authorities and elders (which suppresses rebellion).

One could make an argument excluding Judaism, since it's been a thorn in the side of a number of states throughout history, but all it really does is usurp state authority and place it in the hand of religious authorities, like Islam.

So, religion is a pacifier for many, during some periods in history. Of course, it can also be used to incite violence and drive the 'righteous' onto the battlefield in astounding numbers, to slay 'infidels' identified by the ostensibly well-meaning church authorities.

You really couldn't ask for a better control mechanism. Just tailor it based on regional quirks, incorporate local mythology/fables and have a blast herding human beings like cattle.

Not to say all relgious people are cattle, or all religions are bad - just that the potential for abuse is high if the authorities are unscrupulous and the faithful are incapable or unwilling to think for themselves.

"You have voted PuRe EnErGy for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month."

I know what you're saying and understand that.
You should have gotten a few more responses for that good post. Not sure how many understand it though.

Religion has power and control over its people. It is a known fact that religion has been indirectly or even directly been used as an excuse for a conflict.. It is a shame that we, mankinds, have a belief in higher powers but too concerned about tangible things. For example the issue of Israel and its neighbour... I've heard that the Muslims are not happy that their holy land -Jerusalem- are taken away from them and has become a Christian's land. If they truly believe that the savious will one day come to Jerusalem, dont you think no matter who occupy the land, the saviour would still come?

religions first came about to try and explain how things worked in the world through god images. they eventualy found that they could controll the masses with dogma and thus make life more civil. after a wile of that they realised that they could be fed clothed and make a living off of other people and that is how the religions of the world today were formed.

There are two ways to interact with symbols:

1) let them control you and your decisions/fear/beliefs/etc

2) make them work as representations of intangible forces which require only a bit of sincere and
G ood
O rderly
D irection

There was a disagreement and a greedy tug of war between two spoiled brothers...one said CONTROL and the other said ORDER
but in the end control won by force and it was a dark day...because #1 is idolatry and spiritual bondage and #2 is true liberation on all levels of life...and it makes all the various things into one unstructured thing which then brings about a unified way of life that is a natural cycle and so is stable once it gets started.

This is considered the wrong way to go - by those who want to control.
And those that didn't want control but order just gave in without a fight -- after all - why start the killing any sooner than it would be on its own - when it would turn out to last the next 7000 years of killing and miseries?

Time to try something else. That WILL work!