<p>I disagree. While I am an agnostic atheist, I don’t think that most major religions “are nothing more than an attempt to control others.” I believe most religions were created to do what science tries to do today: to explain the world around us. Those “big questions” are so entrenched in our culture because humans naturally want to know what caused our existence. I agree with the idea that humans are “sinful” in that they are naturally selfish (because we, like all animals, have a survival instinct). We want power, money, sex, because those “improve” our life and theoretically continue the human race. Because of that, people have taken religion and MADE it into a way to control others. Humans can do that with lots of things, though. Religion is incredibly powerful because it helps explain those unanswerable questions. In ancient times when we didn’t have very many scientific answers, we used gods to explain what was happening. Civilizations based on farming, for example, worshiped a personable god of the land who, if the worshipers did what the god wanted, would give them a good harvest. It gave the people a sense of comfort and stability knowing that a powerful being was in charge and that they could do something to affect the weather, etc. Later, human rulers took advantage of the trust placed in those gods and used religion as a way to conquer and subdue. That does not, however, make religion itself bad. Good and bad things have come from religion, just like good and bad things have come from government. Both do similar things, in my opinion, although religion is oftentimes more powerful because it usually has a life-after-death thing going, which trumps this life. I think, however, that blind trust in a god can be harmful, especially when that faith clashes with science. Although we still don’t know nearly as much as there is to know about the universe, we are learning more and more. Religion oftentimes lets people get away with ignorance, and lots of people who grow up in certain religions are very scared of the idea that no one knows some things, or that some things are completely impersonal. They have their faith rooted so deeply in a religion that they often refuse to accept scientific fact (or strong theory). I have some relatives like this. Their daughter suffers from bipolar disorder, and while they understand that it is a mental illness, they do not fully get that it is caused by chemicals in the brain, etc. They do not trust psychiatrists very well, and they are under the impression that prayer, above all things, will help this girl. If she does not respond, they say it is because she is sinful. They attack her faith when her disorder gets out of hand, which does not help the situation. She was hospitalized a few months ago after attempting suicide. </p>
<p>Once again, however, this is not RELIGION’S fault. It is people. Corporations do this, governments do this, cliques and policemen and teachers do this. The more power a group has, the more the influence is felt, which is why religion gets such a crappy deal. Ignorant religious people are dangerous, while intelligent, educated religious people are not (usually).</p>