One thing that Marx mostly nailed - religion can be the opiate of masses. And sometimes those masses can be lead around to reek havoc and let loose the dogs of war.

Religion is the worst scam ever perpetrated on humanity, by itself.
It is solely responsible for more human suffering than any other cause, including natural disasters.

Religion is all about controlling people. It uses fear and hate to control people. Fear of hell and hate gays.

Well if you think about it, it does a good job controlling the masses. At least until they wise up…and of course some never do.

Why are you here?

The question is… control of what, precisely, by what or whom, and for what purpose? The popular answers to those questions on this site are not, oddly, the answers given by the related sciences.

Brain washing nonsense.

You can lead a theist to reason, but you can't make him/her think.

There are 2 parties responsible for every war on the planet in the last 300 years...1) Bankers 2) Religious Institutions Just saying for a friend

Wonder no more for your answer is no.

Does religion control you? It seems to control everyone I ever met who claims to be religious. Of course, people want to do things they really like and want to do. When I was religious the Pentecostals wanted to claim Catholics did everything and repented of it on Sunday. Some even said Catholics are not Christian. I'm not sure what that meant. Apparently they have not studied the history of Christianity. What I have noticed today is that some groups of modern Evangelicals want to do everything Catholics used to be accused of. When you put hypocrisy aside it shows that we are all the same deep down.

Yes i believe it is to control the mind, for example these things that a preacher says " he works in mysterious ways" "he knows what your thinking" "he may or may not give what you want" "It's not about you" and of course the sending to hell for mis behaving , then religion justifies suffering that has happened to people over history for example the holocaust or other horror's like war, It's in the bible they say, or there is a reason for suffering they say, religion always has that Ace card up the sleeve to justify everything. when actually It's not justified religion will try to defend It's self to the teeth,

The original beliefs some tens of thousands of years ago may not have been intended to control, but today's religion(s) are all about trying to control people.

Religion does seek to control.

It seeks to control moral values - thus ensuring that its own, inherent bigotry and moral judgementalism are assumed to be 'good' rather than seen as the obnoxious intollerance they really are.

It seeks to control finance - so that it, and those in authority within it, can cream off a life of luxury and ease by screwing money out of the masses.

It seeks to control politics - so that it can set the rules by which others, including those who do not believe, must live, while rendering itself immune from challenge.

It seeks to control education - because it knows that a genuinely educated population that actually thinks will ask questions it finds uncomfortable and awkward.

Religion is almost ALL about control - because if you have control, you can get ANYTHING and EVERYTHING else you want.

Nope big time control mechanism look at Jim Jones

Religion is one of the original forms of control over humans and one of the most developed ones that has ever existed.
In other countries and culture you can even be publicly executed for disobedience as a warning to others.
Many religious and political leaders in the US covet that type of power, but they must be satisfied with public scorning and banishment, for now.

Shit certainly does happen!!!

You're kidding, right? Or fishing for points with such a vague dumb question? People here respond to facts, all religions brainwash children, that is a fact. Facts do not require any type of "belief." You don't say I "believe" we need oxygen
to live, saying that will make you a moron, because the fact is without oxygen we die, believing or not believing in that is irrelevant.

Humans are a social animal, and everything in human social life, is about attempting to control others. The baby only cries because it wants someone to feed it.

But control is not always a bad thing. You may attempt to regulate road traffic for everyones benefit, including yours, or you may invite people to come in out of the rain for theirs alone.

Religion is no different, except in that it attempts control by appealing to fake imagined authority, which has no genuine base, whether that be gods, traditions or the magical wisdom of prophets. And generally speaking, the only people who are desperate enough to want to use an extreme measure like that, are people without the best of intentions.

I'm not so sure about the use of the word control when it comes to religion or any other belief that is deemed to be popular, widelly held or even globally held. Beliefs may determine the course of an actions(s) in given situations and may form the main part of an individual's code of conduct.

If you follow the traffic rules or the Higway Code as it is referred to in the UK, it does not follow that those who obey the Higway Code are controlled by it. In the case of the Highway Code it is largely a matter of agreement to a set of rules the absence of which would result in daily carnage amongst road users. It is the application of a set of reason based rules and no exceptions or exemptions are made with regard to the religious beliefs held by road users.

The absence of reason based rules is glaringly obvious when it comes to the viewpoints held by different religions, there is no agreement amongst them.

It is, especially in dictatorial regimes.

Before it ever became anything else it was that.

When there is so much proof the bible has been edited, changed, manipulated, and contains un-authored texts (such as Matt/Mark/Luke...), one would have to ponder...what if a group of people long ago developed a long term plan to bring forward an agenda, encode it in a 'historical text' and then when the plan is revealed....they get to call it a fulfilled prophecy. Hummmm...food for thought.