Religion

Would organised religion (such as Christianity) be solely created for control?

Highly unlikely, unless such an organized religion sprang, fully-formed, from its creator (like Scientology.) Most religions grow organically, which means that they don't start as a means of control; rather, they are conceived as a way to answer questions we don't really have access to answers to. However, humans can pervert anything, so even organically-grown religions can be used to control (see the entirety of the Crusades.)

Thank you for the reply.
That makes a lot of sense, we try to find answers by putting our faith in something greater than ourselves and some people take advantage of this, giving all of religion a bad name, would I be correct?

That's the gist of it. There are exceptions, of course; religions that seem incorruptible, or religions that seem like they were built solely upon corruption. But generally, that's how they work.

Can corruption in a person be unlearned? Say for example someone is corrupted by greed and selfishness but realises this is not the right behaviour, can said person return to who they were before corruption?

Exar Qel Droma wrote: Can corruption in a person be unlearned? Say for example someone is corrupted by greed and selfishness but realises this is not the right behaviour, can said person return to who they were before corruption?

Not the same person. One better than before, perhaps, but the lessons they learned from their corruption would stay with them to guide their actions in the future.

So in a way their corruption helped them grow?

I'm not advocating corruption as an excuse for growth, but everything we endure holds a lesson for us, if we can see it.

I don't believe religions were created with control in mind, nor that all are still for control. Buddhism, Wiccan, Atheism, where is the control in that? Religions were created by our ancestors when knowledge was hard to come by. They needed a way to explain things. Why there was a sun, a moon, storms, etc. So they naturally created a "diety" who is in control. However as our ancestors grew with knowledge, so did their chances for corruption. In my opinion the corruption started when you requires to give money to "your god" , and all it went to was to pay for the lavished lifestyle of the Clergy. Which, you still see in today's times as well. Its very rampant in the Aramahic religions, instead of eastern religions who generally seem to be more about enlightenment even today.

That sounds similar to what doesn't kill you makes you stronger mixed with knowledge is power.. Am I making any sense?

Exar Qel Droma wrote: Would organised religion (such as Christianity) be solely created for control?

I believe early Christianity was a rather loosely organized (if at all) religious movement. Once the Roman state became involved, it was, on an organization level, turned into a power system that grew stronger until most western societies started to keep the state and religion separate. Catholicism is still very powerful today, whereas Protestantism doesn't have a centralized organization behind it.

With Buddhism, it depends: The Mahayana version with the (formerly) Tibetan central governing body behind it is still controlled from the top, whereas most Theravada flavors never had a central power system behind it as far as I know.