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

[paulpablo]

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

To some extent yes.  And I think where religion disappears big government power tends to take over. 

Another tenancy I've slightly noticed, sometimes but not all the time.  Is the stronger the atheist the more want for big government power.

[abaris]

Whenever I debate religion or hear it debated, it is always at the back of my mind the the person arguing in favour of religion is actually defending the very system that is controlling their mind in favour of the ruling class.

You can make that argument for many middle eastern states and to a lesser degree for the USA. You can't make that argument for the largest parts of Europe. We've moved beyond that point, thanks to two world wars. Religion isn't what's keeping the masses in check, as Marx used to argue - very losely paraphrased. Not anymore.

[SteveII]

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

You seem to have phrased that "...institution to give..." to imply that is the reason for organized religion. That does not work so well if the religion you are talking about happens to be the minority or unwelcomed type (or was at one point).

[brewer]

Whip me, beat me, make me write bad checks!

[Tartarus Sauce]

Organized religion essentially began as a codification of state authority. Historically, civilizations that attained categorized social hierarchies and complex political machinations adopted religions that were sanctified by the state and became extensions of their will. From the Egyptian pharaohs personifying a literal bridge between humans and the gods, to the Chinese "Mandate of Heaven" claiming emperors were picked by the divines to rule justly and fairly, to the government decrees on animal sacrifices in Rome and human sacrifices among the Aztecs, to the intermingling between the Catholic Church and feudal kingdoms in medieval Europe; organized religion has acted as a vessel for the state's agenda. It's only been in the past few centuries that we've begun disentangling the two.

Unorganized religion on the other hand, dates back way beyond written records or the formation of states, and was definitely not formulated as a tool of control. Human predilection for spirituality is a combination of the way our brains are wired for both interpreting the external world and our socializing tendencies. Our brains are predisposed for pattern seeking and attributing agency to external actions. You can find this embedded in the philosophical problem of other minds, except instead of asking how do we know other minds exist, refocus the question to ask why we're inclined to assume other minds exist to begin with. It's because our brains are wired to attribute consciousness and agency to others to facilitate our socializing tendencies, so hardwired in fact that we sometimes attribute agency where there is none. That tree that fell on top of your friend and killed him after he chopped it down? That wasn't a random act of physics, that was a the will of a nature spirit punishing him for his transgression. This is also why coincidences are frequently described as "eerie," because we're predisposed to assume a type of purpose is guiding such events.

Once you've established the beliefs, social rituals will almost inevitably generate in its wake. This is to be expected of creatures as socially inclined as us, since we find all sorts of means through which to facilitate social bonding and forging collective identities, and religion is no different in this regard. It's hardly surprising that states have historically predicated their existence through religious justifications, at which point the pre-existing belief systems were co-opted to function as an arm of the government. Instead of identifying with your tribe through your religion, all of the sudden your religion identifies you with a nation, and that produces loyal subjects to your rule because they view it as authentic.

[Spirian]

To what extent...

To the extreme. Religion is mind control.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Biblical religion was used to control the herd and as a money making con game by the priests.

Moses went ape shit crazy when some of his herd wanted to practice freedom of religion so he had his thugs kill thousands of them And later on he repeated the process.

King Asa killed everyone who had a different opinion about which imaginary deity they should worship. He decided that his was the right one so he killed all of the free-thinkers.

Moses set up the con game whereby his thugs got all of the money, wore fancy robes, didn't have to do any physical labor, got the best food without working for it, and got a golden parachute retirement plan. Other crooks have been doing the same thing ever since.

[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.

[chimp3]

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

We do not have to imagine a secret cabal of politicians devising evil religious schemes for this to be true. Politicians (Trump, Clinton, Obama) who exaggerate their allegiance to Christianity in order to not alienate the believing is proof enough.

[Anomalocaris]

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

To the full extent.