Religion: a tool for the ruling class to keep the population under control?

[Homeless Nutter]

To what extent do you see organised religion as an institution to give the ruling classes power over the general population?

I see organized religion more as an institution to give power over the general public to organized religion. 

Ruling classes may use religion as a tool - like in England, or religion may take control of the ruling classes, as in islamic theocracies. Or the secular and the religious authorities can endlessly struggle for the power over people's hearts and minds - like in most modern countries. 

Alternatively - and that, I think, is almost every religion's ultimate goal - the religious officials are the ruling class, as was the case in Tibet before Chinese occupation, for example. I believe religious organizations are completely self-interested and they do not by default mean to facilitate someone else's political power. They only do so when it's convenient and useful for their own advancement, or when they're forcibly made to comply.