Religion as a tool of control....theories?

I have seen numerous topics ranging from how we can tell the difference between christ and the anti-christ....TO If we are actually worshipping satan.
What I am not seeing is the questioning of religion as whole as tool.
I would like to discuss all theories in thread relating to how religion may be a tool of those who wish to establish control over mankind.....
EX.

1. Religion as a veil to prevent us from knowing who or what we really are.
   
2. Religion as means of controling the human race for an unknown purpose
   
3. Religion as a tool for creating wars
   
4. Religion as a tool for setting up and retaining govenments.
   

[Edited on 1-11-2003 by NephraTari]

Look how the Catholic church held back science and opressed people for over 1000 years. They still do but now "educated" know not to believe everything they hear, especially if someone tells them they talk to God.

Religion as a veil to prevent us from knowing who or what we really are.

For large, organised religions I think this is true. There is little self exploration and a lot of blind faith, so how can you find out who you are if you just put everything down to God's workings?

Religion as means of controling the human race for an unknown purpose

I somewhat agree, for major religions anyway, but the purpose, no matter what slant you put on it, is to control the most amount of people by using the least amount of effort.

Religion as a tool for creating wars

I don't think so anymore, it used to be the case, but now there are other excuses that people can more easily accept.

Religion as a tool for setting up and retaining govenments.

This was definately the case in the past, for the large, organised religions anyway.
I'm not so sure now, but religion doesn't need to be used for this purpose anymore because the people in charge were selected by the people who used religion for this end in the first place.


[Edited on 1-11-2003 by �any]

the catholic church issued a statement recently telling people
"Dont use condoms AIDS can get through them"
? how many people in 3rd world countries do you think that will help kill ?

Originally posted by straterx
the catholic church issued a statement recently telling people
"Dont use condoms AIDS can get through them"
? how many people in 3rd world countries do you think that will help kill ?

For crying out loud, how can ANYONE think that the Catholic church are the good guys when they do # like this?
What a total bunch of morons.

I'm all with you that true. Religion have good ideas, okay, when it lead us to the perfection we are searching for. But most of the times, it's only a tool of control against the people...

i wouldn't go so far as to say all religion is to control the people, cuz there is good religoins like buddhism which isn't aimed at making ppl ignorant of themselves and the world, and it teaches ppl to accept each other

Religion can be viewed as such.
How many here realize just "how long" religion has been around?
How many here know what "religion" means?

Religion, just as politics, just as anything else can be used to control the masses....think about it.

Religion is not the "cause" and "effect".....man is!
You can scream Catholic church this and that but again...."who" (think bigger picture here) is running the Catholic church or any church for that matter? Who dictates and decrees to the masses? Who can twist and wrentch the very fiber of individuals into thinking that they are doing the "Will of God?"
Here, let me help ya:
Question 1) Man
Question 2) Man
Question 3) Man

Seeing a pattern here?
Man controls man.....its the man's mind that is being and doing the "influencing"...not "religion"......


regards
seekerof

[Edited on 1-11-2003 by Seekerof]

Religion as a tool for setting up and retaining govenments.

This was definately the case in the past, for the large, organised religions anyway.
I'm not so sure now, but religion doesn't need to be used for this purpose anymore because the people in charge were selected by the people who used religion for this end in the first place.


[Edited on 1-11-2003 by �any]

Well that is what I am getting at. I think religion was one of the key tools for getting people used to the idea of having someone superior to them in a position of control.
I think it was one of the earliest tools that got people in the mindset to originally accept government as a good idea. Once the concept got its foundation it only needed occasional religious reinforcements to keep its hold over people. How long has it been since we questioned the idea that we needed a government? Have you ever?
We are conditioned now to accept this as the way things are. Governments only exist because we allow them too, through passive acceptance. They have no REAL power over us, other than that which we allow them to.

Organized religions and churches are definitely most underestimated part of conspiracy landscape. It is total phenomenon that kind of blind spot around even publicly available facts. Doctrine on which most of religions are built is a powerful hidden key used to manipulate masses. That doctrine was artificially created to support civil power and economy.
You are not member of any church - doesn�t matter you as the rest of our civilization under control of twisted morality.

��Man is fallen, corrupt, and wicked. Man believes in God by grace through faith, is unable to come close to God through his own efforts, nor can he win salvation by his attempt at good works, nor once saved does he maintain his salvation by his works, nor can he understand the spiritual things of God on his own. Eternal punishment in hell and separation from the blessed presence of God are the consequences of the unregenerate person's sinfulness�.�

BASIC CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE - BECOME INFORMED by jagdflieger


Even if you think that spiritual subconscious control isn�t enough to investigate religions �remember they have huge capital resources, banks, and corporations even countries (like Spain via Opus Dei) under economical control.

Amen

The way the human brain works is that it is incredibly well adapted to assimilate new knowledge. Accomodating new knowledge that conflicts with previously learned knowledge is far, far harder to do. The church knows this, the governments of the world know this, hell, pretty much everybody knows it that wants to control a group of people. Childhood indoctrination has kept people under the foot of the rich and powerful for centuries on this planet.

Quite obviously religion is a tool of control. Its inescapable as you are taught it from birth and are unlikely to release yourself from those beliefs later in life. Its all part of the quite predictable and well documented human nature.

[Edited on 1-11-2003 by heelstone]

You know I have seen this statement made many times "religion is a tool of control". However, I have never seen any documentation other than vague theories (i. e., "you are right" type replies). Here is a challenge. Document your thesis with the following:
1. List five to ten examples of how religion is being used to control people and how this control is being exercised. Back up your contention with links to quotes statements of facts, figures, etc.
2. Do not use small cults as an example (these are usually based on a personality), but you must use major large scale movements.

the catholic church issued a statement recently telling people
"Dont use condoms AIDS can get through them"
? how many people in 3rd world countries do you think that will help kill

For example, we have the following quote from this thread. There is no link to the actual statement made by the Roman Catholic Church. How am I to believe this statement? To me it is just an assertion which may have been quoted out of context. It could be a lie generated to criticized the Roman Catholic Church. Without the proper documentation, this is a heresay argument. Here may be another angle on this particular subject:
1. The only sure way to prevent the spread of STD's (sexually transmitted diseases) is either by abstinence or with a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner.
2. Condoms only reduce the risk of the spread of STD's (although a substantial reduction).
3. Certain types of condoms have proven to be next to useless in the prevention of the spread of STD's. (I believe this has been shown to be the "natural feel" variety, but need to verfiy that).
4. Even with the use of proper kind of condoms, the risk is only reduced on a per time basis. In short, if you pratice enough unsafe sex, you will probably get an STD even if you use condoms.
5. Also could have the proponents of condoms given people a false sense of security in the practice of unsafe sex? Could it be that perhaps people are starting to rely on the use of these devices to stop the spread of STD's rather than relying on safe practices.

This is the point, a statement has been made and there is no evidence (or documentation) to indicate that the Roman Catholic Church ever made the statement as posted. Here is another example of what I mean:

Quite obviously religion is a tool of control. Its inescapable as you are taught it from birth and are unlikely to release yourself from those beliefs later in life. Its all part of the quite predictable and well documented human nature.

No I am not picking on any one person, but here we have a nice thesis but where are the facts and figures to back up this statement? Indeed there have been many people who have converted, changed their religion, their faith. It is not predictable as stated. Again without documentation, qoutes, figures, how can you tell if what I am saying is correct. You see my point?

As for me, time grows short, and I grow tired of the game.

Religion is simply a tool if it were not then why did people (masses) fight wars based upon the idea that they were needed for religious reasons.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

There is no such thing as a religion, which can be considered innocent in this sense. If anything the purpose of religion in history, has favored the opinion
of it being a method to rallying troops for war and generating conflict between cultures. To a greater extent that they have playing the role of "saving
souls".

What can be said about all beliefs is that essentially they are the same and the simple fact is, that sameness has been subverted, even on the Internet.

The attached as well is an interesting read...

www.religion-online.org...

Any thoughts?

yes, religion can be used as a political tool. But it isnt used that way in every religion.

Is anyone familiar with the story of Easter Island? The people there used up all the natural resourses and were starving to death, to distract them from their problems their chiefs told to them to construct the headstones as a tribute to the Gods that are so famous today. This is a great example of how religion can be used as a distraction to the real problems of society.

As the first way out there was religion, which is implanted into every child by way of the traditional education-machine. Thus I came - though the child of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents - to a deep religiousness, which, however, reached an abrupt end at the age of twelve. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression. Mistrust of every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude toward the convictions that were alive in any specific social environment-an attitude that has never again left me, even though, later on, it has been tempered by a better insight into the causal connections. It is quite clear to me that the religious paradise of youth, which was thus lost, was a first attempt to free myself from the chains of the "merely personal," from an existence dominated by wishes, hopes, and primitive feelings. Out yonder there was this huge world, which exists independently of us human beings and which stands before us like a great, eternal riddle, at least partially accessible to our inspection and thinking. The contemplation of this world beckoned as a liberation, and I soon noticed that many a man whom I had learned to esteem and to admire had found inner freedom and security in its pursuit. The mental grasp of this extra-personal world within the frame of our capabilities presented itself to my mind, half consciously, half unconsciously, as a supreme goal. Similarly motivated men of the present and of the past, as well as the insights they had achieved, were the friends who could not be lost. The road to this paradise was not as comfortable and alluring as the road to the religious paradise; but it has shown itself reliable, and I have never regretted having chosen it.

Becoming a Freethinker and a Scientist, excerpt Albert Einstein's Autobiographical Notes

Jrod, the stories I am familiar with in respect to why those statues are there, are much different and much more profound. I am inclined to support Seekeroff comments to a great degree, though I feel some other factors do as well contribute for instance the matter of Punctuated Equilibria.

Any thoughts?

PS: Excellent find Kronos

[Edited on 1-11-2003 by Toltec]

religion even though in its common form is no more than a battleground for those who follow satan and those who dont...
it has been my experience that the masses of people caught in this whirlwind of religion are actually worshipping the devil...
furthermore the masses know not of the true intent behing these practices, that are gised as being good natured...
the most devilish about the conspiracy is that while those who devote their lives in a journey of spirituality reach walls due to the enforcement of ones will as to what is proper and not...
thirdly, in this "new world" we supposedly live in; persons are not given the true tools to advance spiritually within the religious infrastructure and are further trapped in this realm, forced to procreate as a sign of lifes success, this is insidious when one fully realizes the programming and tools at work...

Originally posted by Toltec
Religion is simply a tool if it were not then why did people (masses) fight wars based upon the idea that they were needed for religious reasons.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

There is no such thing as a religion, which can be considered innocent in this sense. If anything the purpose of religion in history, has favored the opinion
of it being a method to rallying troops for war and generating conflict between cultures. To a greater extent that they have playing the role of "saving
souls".

What can be said about all beliefs is that essentially they are the same and the simple fact is, that sameness has been subverted, even on the Internet.

The attached as well is an interesting read...

www.religion-online.org...

Any thoughts?

My thoughts on the latter article... the predominating thought that circled through my mind as I read, was that there are agenda's within agenda's when it comes to religions.
I think the strong admonation of all other religions is a part of one agenda,.
The demand that certain religions make on their followers that they do not marry someone that is not of their religion is another VERY obvious form of control over its followers, and to what end? Well I have my ideas on that, but no firm beliefs or even mentionable theories yet.
The more I think about it, the more I think perhaps this would make a good research project.
Finding the elements of control in religions and attempting to unveil the purposes behind each element.
I think religion is one of the greatest tools of all time.
Can you think of a more powerful tool than the idea of god? A god that demands obedience and glory?
I can't.

Originally posted by bigsage
religion even though in its common form is no more than a battleground for those who follow satan and those who dont...
it has been my experience that the masses of people caught in this whirlwind of religion are actually worshipping the devil...
furthermore the masses know not of the true intent behing these practices, that are gised as being good natured...
the most devilish about the conspiracy is that while those who devote their lives in a journey of spirituality reach walls due to the enforcement of ones will as to what is proper and not...
thirdly, in this "new world" we supposedly live in; persons are not given the true tools to advance spiritually within the religious infrastructure and are further trapped in this realm, forced to procreate as a sign of lifes success, this is insidious when one fully realizes the programming and tools at work...

You don't get what I am saying.
They cannot be worshipping either god or the devil, because neither of them exist in any form other than an idea planted in our psyche.
The idea of God and Satan are used to control peoples actions and way of thinking, much the way the idea of Santa is used to make children behave during the months prior to christmas.
Ever notice that Santa is acronym for Satan?