According to the dictionary "religion is the service and worship of

God or the supernatural."1 I challenge that definition. It is true that all

religions do involve the worship of some supernatural force, however, it

is also true that no religion in history has ever stopped at that. For a

more complete definition of the word religion we also have to examine

two other aspects. How has it affected man over the centuries? And

what is the true motivation of its leadership? Some would have you

believe that it has brought peace and harmony to the world and that its

leaders are motivated by the service of their god. I suggest that a more accurate definition of word would be as

follows. Religion, a feudal system of government which uses fear, hate and

sometimes lies to control and manipulate people for the betterment of a

select group

of individuals. To better illustrate this point let's look at just three of the countless

examples that human history has to offer. The Inquisition, "judicial

institution, established by the papacy in the Middle Ages, charged with

seeking out, trying, and sentencing people guilty of heresy."2 Heretics

were considered enemies of the state. The penalty for heresy was

torture and death. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, "Jesus was taken to

Golgotha and nailed to a cross, the Roman punishment for political

offenders and criminals."2 The Crusades, "The name Crusade (from

Latin, "Cross") was also applied, to the wars against pagan peoples,

Christian heretics, and political foes of the papacy."2 All three

examples illustrate how man has used God to justify his greed and quest

for power. When the leadership was challenged, it used devine decree to

justify the murder and torture of the innocent. We are expected to

believe that a non-physical being order the religious leadership to aquire

riches and land, often at the demise of the poor and helpless. The

misuse of God isn't limited to the Ancient world. Today we have people

like Louis Farakahn and Adolph Hitler and David Koresch who use god

to propagate racism and hate, there by giving them the power unite and

control a given segment of the population. As you can plainly see, religion is much more than the worship of

a supernatural force as its leaders would have us believe. It is in fact, a

method by which a society is governed and controlled. "God created

man, man created religion, it is therefore corrupt."