Religion is very contradictory topic to discuss. From the very beginning of its existence, there were people who try to use religious beliefs for own purposes. And it is worth mentioning that, these purposes not always was good.
I only partly agree with the statement that rich and powerful people have created religions to control the poor people. Yes, rich people use religions for own purposes, but, for example, a history of Christianity creation absolutely deny this statement.
There is thesis Christianity is the religion of slaves. And this is true historical fact. Christianity was created by slaves because of their rightlessness in Roman Empire. This religion, in and of itself, urges to knock under the faith, because people, who believe, will live in heaven after the death. Indeed, this religion brought hope for slaves and it gave even more power to rich people because they can do with slaves whatever they wanted to do and there would no resistance.
As a matter of fact, Christianity prohibits fighting back. So there was a rule, only obedient people will live in heaven after their death. And one fact from the Bible confirms this: “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” ("Matthew 5:39 But I Tell You, Do Not Resist An Evil Person. If Anyone Slaps You On The Right Cheek, Turn To Them The Other Cheek Also.") This “rule” was used many times by different people with different purposes.
Another example is Crusades. It was the wars undertaken by Christians in the late Middle Ages to secure the right to visit the Holy Sepulchre and to recover the Holy Land, but this is not a true reason. The main reason for these wars is Vatican’s fear of lost its fold and as a result its source of income. In other words, the Crusades were undertaken only for money. It is no secret that crusaders have got a lot of money through forey, murders and etc.
These days religion does not lose its effect on people. It gets even more power. Nowadays it became a policy tool. Many politicians and powerful states use religion as a bargaining tool.
And there no secret, today religion is used for making money that brings power, authority, and influence. Every day some new religions appear and its “founders” not always serve a higher purpose. Very often it has only one reason. This reason is making money and getting influence.
Also, there are people who try to justify themselves using religion. The bright example is jihad and how it is used by terrorists. It is the common fact that terrorism sponsors by rich people and even by some countries with different intentions. It is reasonably safe to suggest that rich people managed to distort the true meaning of the term jihad. This word used to describe the fighting for religion and fighting with own malice. But now the term means a war against all non-Moslems and negation of other religion except Islam.
Many wars have begun because of the religion. But this is not the only reason, it used only for covering real causes. It makes no difference what it can be the desire of getting more power, money, new territories or something else. Everything can be cover using the religion because always there will be various beliefs and various peoples and there always will be someone who will want more. In this case religion and culture, in general, are universal tools, because these things are the most amenable for distortion.
So, I would like to change the statement. Rich and powerful people did not create religions, but they always have used and always will use it for own goals. It does not matter how the world will be developed. There always will be people with bad intentions.
Works cited:
"Matthew 5:39 But I Tell You, Do Not Resist An Evil Person. If Anyone Slaps You On The Right Cheek, Turn To Them The Other Cheek Also.". Biblehub.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 19 July 2016.
