"Faith comes by hearing"

[John V]

The number is approx. 44,000
The division into denominations was caused by disagreements within the church, mostly

Yep. IOW, people were thinking about things, and not just blindly following.

I was referring to the question whether religious leaders use psychological tricks knowingly

I've said before that, even if you don't believe the Bible is true, you should give props to those bronze-age goat herders who wrote something that tapped into the human psyche so well that it's still being followed by a big chunk of humanity thousands of years later.

I can't see why they would give everyone, including slaves and animals, every seventh day off.

Anyway, do religious leaders use psychology? Sure, some of them do. Why do you call them tricks?