Manipulation of the Masses.

Throughout time there has been a small cadre of people desperate to control the larger population for their own ends.

Examples can be seen in the difference between ancient Christian religious texts and modern ones: each new version created to conform to changing standards. Before the modern age religion was used as the means of controlling the masses and it was shaped and formed in the image of the men who wanted the control. Hence in the past we have evidence in ancient texts that Jesus had a wife or possibly a girlfriend, God had one as well, the deities were more human than they are purported to be now. Christianity for some reason needed an extra twist upon Judaism, so Jesus the messiah was born, possibly to reinforce the myth a human could have god-like powers.... the list goes on.

Religion has been a flexible tool with which to control the masses and extort money. There has been no better bogeyman than an all-knowing god... someone who knows exactly what you're up to even when no-one else is around. Religion also gives the masses a set of rules to live by, which enhances the control.

Catholics exploit this further by adding a mechanism by which you can purge yourself of sins by confession. A mechanism that requires you to attend church and talk to God's local Catholic rep, whereupon he will tell you you are absolved of those sins: all it'll take is a bit more devotion by a few chants and a contribution to the kitty on the way out. Also if you cross the church at any time, they know your weaknesses: very handy.

Christian priests will spend endless hours philosophising about the existence of God and how his existence can be proven given there is no tangible evidence of it. Instead they talk of signs and use examples of extreme coincidence as proof of his existence. Different factions of Christianity have even gone to war against each other as different ideologies fight for the souls of (more accurately control the lives of) the masses.

Islam is no different: note the different factions, all more or less tolerant/extreme flavours of the same thing, with the differences marked by the depths of hatred and contempt of the manipulative cadre for their fellow man.

In all religions, the common factor is its a small number of humans, not Gods that do the manipulating, order the killing, dispense the forgiving and its the masses that carry out those orders.

Today there are a number of ideologies competing for control of the masses alongside Religion.

Money or the manipulation of money, markets and the economy has over the past few centuries been elevated to a quasi-religion, with the usual signs of a number of factions, philosophising about the use of money and its effects in the economy, etc.

Climate change or global warming that is fast becoming the new religion. A small cadre of people sit in positions of power and enable a whole set of new rules to live by and punishments for transgression. Certain "enlightened" scientists have become the priests of the new religion, philosophising about how the existence of man made global warming can be proven despite no definate link between CO2 and global warming. They talk of signs and manipulate data to produce graphs to show how coincidental occurrences prove the existence of MMGW.

I'm sure over time we'll see each of these ideologies fight for the control of the masses, just like we have in the past. There's always a small group of men who think they are gods and have the right to control others.

Its time we saw it all for what it is and fought back.