the history of religion is sort of something as follows, with its roots in both power & fear and later genuine compassion
(1) primitive peoples had fears. so they began to worship what they feared
(2) then primitive peoples began to learn their lives depended on certain things, such as the sun, the rain, etc, so they began to develop & worship sun gods, rain gods, etc
(3) as civilisations grew, the common people feared the military power of the kings. further, the kings, either via delusion or via ingenuity, manufactured themselves as "gods" or manufactured gods to keep the common people under submission & in their armies
(4) as civilisation grew, so did material progress & education. in this environment, generally, the well-to-do had time on their hands to ponder the deeper questions of life. thus, in places such as the Indian civilisation, there arose 'the Brahmins', which were 'those who turned away' [from the evils & corruptions of civilised hierachical society]. these 'Brahmins' lived outside of the society, often in caves & forests, but then they became some of the priests of society as the kings & other powers came to consult them. the Brahmins also developed religious views about reincarnation & the caste system
(5) from the Babylonian civilisation & empire came Abram, later to be renamed Abraham. it has been speculated his name means "not Brahmin", because he was against the notions of hierachy & caste systems. however, obviously Abraham was well-connected because, as the Bible reports, he was wealthy, had armies, but most of all, he was promised by "God" [or the emperor of Babylonia] that his group could settle in Caanan, which was the furthest frontier of the Babylonian empire. so Abraham was probably a religious nutter or mystic, probably connected to the royal family and this family kind of exiled him rather than kill him for being a trouble maker
[6] so Abraham [and his inheritors, such as Moses] believed in "The One God" which made all people equal. back in the time, this was certainly a novel concept, amongst the hierachical structures of Babylonian, Indian, Egyptian & Greek society. even for the Greeks, there were two classes, namely, slaves & masters
[7] the One God, representing unity, also represented the understanding of moral law. thus it prescribed laws about not-murdering, not-stealing, marital faithfulness, etc. however, this religion as prescribed killing or capital punishment for law breakers. also, this religion was deluded in believing all members of society could follow the law.
[8] thus, although this ancient primitive religion of Abraham & Moses was advanced in its era, today, many human beings still adhere to such a primitive outlook, that somehow they can create a perfect society via capital punishment
[9] then arose Buddha in India. Buddha understood the creation of a perfect moral society is impossible; that corruption always grows in society. the Buddha was also accutely aware of existential suffering & wanted to find a remedy for psychological suffering. so Buddha sought inner peace & personal liberation, which he found via the cultivation of perfect non-violence, unconditional love, selflessness, renunciation & insight [into the true nature of reality]
[10] then Jesus, naively or with another agenda, attempted to blend the Buddhist notion of liberation with the Jewish religion of the One God; attempting to transform the One God (of moral retribution) into a god of unconditional love & forgiveness
[11] naturally, the god of Jesus, which purportedly forgives & offers heaven to sinners & other bad guys via mere faith, lead to all kinds of corruptions
[12] so later arose Mohamed who sought to rectify the corruptions of Christianity but, contrary to Buddha & Jesus, Mohamed was a user of the sword & obviously partial to worldly desires of women. in short, Mohamed was a moral fanatic & his religion was a throwback to the primitive impossible to administer religion of Abraham & Moses
so religion often has good intentions but, as the saying goes: "The Road To Hell is Paved with Good Intentions"
religion can certainly provide individual human beings a means to well-being & freedom from suffering. even people who believe they will go to heaven after death by believing in Jesus or believe they will be reincarnated are provided with a means to end their fears of death or suffering about the death of loved ones
but religion can never ever create a perfect world & society. therefore all attempts & concerns by so called religious people to change the world via civil law, politics, military action, etc, are totally misguided & delusional
the prophets of individual liberation, such as Buddha & Jesus, did not have families. but the modern day religous zealot that uses the protection of families to justify their moral fundamentalism is basically stuck between a rock & a hard place
