Religion: a form of control or REAL?

cinnamocha wrote:

From the Encarta encyclopedia: The Arabic name for God, Allah, refers to the same God worshiped by Jews and Christians. Allah is just an Arabic word; it's not a name. It means "the God". We studied in history the relation between Judaism, Muslims believe in progressive revelation. So to them, Jesus was an important prophet. True Islam also commands its followers to respect "the people of the Book", Christians. They also regarded the Bible as a holy book, although the Qu'ran was holier, unchanged. Also, as for **** -- most Muslims do not believe in the militant expressions of ****, which is a holy war. The holy war means to most the war against their sinful flesh -- same as most Christians. "Within the faith of Islam, this effort can be individual or collective, and it can apply to leading a virtuous life; helping other Muslims through charity, education, or other means; preaching Islam; and fighting to defend Muslims." As for religion, I tend to think of it not so much created for control, but something people derived to give them hope and purpose. People later used it as a springboard for division, control, and power. But as of right now, I don't really believe it's true...just an inspiring institution of man.

Cupid Valentino wrote:

After much thought, I've come to the conclusion that however real religion may have been when it began, its current incarnation is a form of control. Kings used religion to justify their claim to their thrones. **** owners used religion to justify the use of slaves. Remember though it may be the Word of God, it is still written by the Hand of Man. I think its stupid that some people buy into the words within the bible so quickly without analyzing the past behind the book. There's still knowledge in it, but you have to take that with a grain of salt and realize that there is also some "artificial additives."