Islamic Sexuality A Survey Of Evil, page-7

"no doubt there are some good aspects of most religions but in general most religions were established as a means for controlling the masses."

I think you are nearly right sirdean except rather being established as a means for controlling the masses that's what they eventually degenerate to. According to biblical accounts Christ had a lot of time for the filthy sinners but he was constantly at war with the religious establishment of the day. He knew that the Scribes and Pharisees just didn't get it....and so the population thought "wow, this is refreshing" and they embraced the teachings of Christ and ran with it.....

But it didn't take long before the new Christian movement degenerated into the very thing that Christ fought against. The church became as stale and as controlling as the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees had been. I guess it is the same for all religions, Islam included. It's human nature.