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Religion has over the years been argued to be the best way of instilling morals in society. Ultimately, this purported morality is inherently the urge to have control over the activities of the members of society. Religion has been characterised by the setting of rules and standards that are seen as the critical requirement for better life beyond the present life; in the long run, this assists in having control over the congregation which is the society.
Equally it has been argued that religion is a way of saving the human soul well after death. Either way, there isn’t any sufficient empirical evidence that life exists after death. And perhaps this is another of the manipulative ways of gaining control over the congregation so that it remains subservient on pretext of gaining access to this said lucrative destination.
Discussion
On their part, the antagonists argue that religion exists as a tool for controlling society as a whole. In essence the argument seem to be different yet they have a common horizon; manipulative control (Pax). Ideally whether this assertion is true is largely very debatable and detestable of attestable. There seems to be an increasing concern over the ideal role of religion in society; salvation or a tool for ultimate control.
The onset of the spread of religious ideals promised much. The taste of time seems to be militating against this inherently inculcated belief. Apparently religion is today damaged to the very core with the realisation that religion is just perhaps a tool for control. The divinity of God seems to be taken in a lot of lacklustre (Oliver, 1994). Today the unwarranted mention of God seems to elicit much argument that translates into suites unlike earlier taken. The image of God as a creator has suffered treason because of this belief that religion is after all a shear tool for control.
This belief seems to have emanated from a number of unfolding. Most notable is the fact that earlier religious proponents instilled fears into the congregation asserting that those who don’t follow the faith would be fed to the lions (Pax, 2007). The realisation by the congregation that this is not true after all has made the congregation to develop an attitude to religion.
Earlier believers even condemned those who believed in different faiths and a different god other that that in which they believed. When religion gained root with different faith teaching their beliefs to convincing and conviction, those who had prophesied condemnation received resistance from those they had condemned. Ultimately, this was the beginning of the problems of the religion.
The failures of most of the theories that concern the demise of the world have perhaps doubled up on the problems of the religion (Singh, 2010). Though the religious class had changed the approach of passing the message to the congregation to that of love, the congregation seems to have already lost their faith in these teachings. The fears that had been inculcated to have the congregation believe in the doctrines makes them remain very apprehensive and listen to the messages with pacified concern.
Religion had almost overpowered governments in terms of control over the subjects (Singh, 2010). Clearly, this control was merely developed through the development of fear amongst the congregation. This trend changed only with the onset of revolution. While fears had been inculcated, the onset of the revolution meant that the most of the religious practices were being denied and therefore reducing the influence altogether.
Perhaps one of the outstanding influences on the fears created by religion was the increased scientific inventions and innovation (Oliver). Science seems to have demystified empirically some of the occurrences that had been used in instilling fears within society. Science was able to explain some of the happenings within society that had been earlier used to show that indeed there existed some superpower that would not be overlooked and that was omnipotent, omniscient and omnipotent.
The future of religion presently looks very gleam and oblique (Pax, 2007). There has essentially been much oppression, judgment, exclusion, ill will and controversy over the rules that had been earlier developed concerning religious practices. Ideally, the shift of societal control from the religious class to the military forces seems to have reduced the initially inscribed role of religion in controlling the society. This shift in the centre of societal control seems to have caused the whores of the religious class.
The messages and practices that are related to religion are being highly censored. The reference to God has been presently believed by the society as a convenience practise (Oliver, 1994). The power that endear to control the world as a singular society seems to be more genuine compared to the religions class and has overridden the religious class in terms of control. Besides, unlike the creation of fears adopted by the religious class, the present order delves much on the positives of such control and hence gaining much leverage.
The increased numbers of religions and sects alike have doubled up the shift in control by the religious class (Singh, 2010). The religious class seems to be so preoccupied with winning the believers and the controversies are so abound that it has caused the lack of faith in this earlier influential class of society.
The religious wars such as the jihads have equally been used in the creation of fears among the congregation and the society. Where the society has a chance to discard these beliefs, it has been near imperative to do so. Ultimately, the resultant trend is that the religious class are not meant to save after all, rather, are meant to harm. The government in the past has equally used religion as a means of having the citizens subservient. However, the separation of the powers between the government and the religious class has made the government go it all alone in controlling the subjects.
The religious class has lost it earlier control similarly through the overemphasis of money in their affairs (Singh, 2010). It is equally this aspect that has become so rooted in the church that has further complicated the control of the church over the congregation and the society at large. Hardly can t be debated on whether money has been the key ruining aspect of the church. Most of the churches spend an estimated 32% of their worship time teaching about the tenets of giving (Oliver, 1994). Perhaps this abuse and over indulgence arise from the inability to access enough for supporting a life that is worth living in a system that one is not able to control.
In earnest, religion has been used in controlling through history; churches have made incessant attempts to ensure it maintains a control base on the morals and the ethics of the society. The intention was to have the reduction of crime initially; apparently the church is embroiled in the very brows of crime.
Conclusions
The foregoing discussion clearly shows that religion has over the years used fears a way of controlling its congregation. These attempts have been made either in isolation or on behalf of the government of the day (Oliver, 1994). Nevertheless, the fact that some of the threats have lacked any scientific empirical backing has put the religious class at crossroads. Some of the theories postulated by the religious class concerning the demise of the church seem to have utterly worsened the impending church control over the congregation.
The preoccupation of the church with matters that are money centred has equally made the church loose its control over the church; replete of the fears that had earlier been inculcated by the taught doctrines. The beliefs of the society today notwithstanding, it is indisputable that whatever the stand, the church has over the years applied much of fear instilling in maintaining the loyalty of the congregation. Like it were, the realisation that these would be shear threats has reduced the popularity of the church and the religious class at large amongst the congregation.
