"Religion was created to control people"

I wonder sometimes how people who claim that religion somehow is "artificial" or "invented" imagine how the creative process of constructing a religion appears. Do they picture a council of shady bishops brain-storming how to control the populace? Do they think that the apostles of Christianity were like the savvy used-car salesmen of spirituality? In any case, the notion that religious faith is somehow artificial and constructed in order to "control the masses" (tin hats, anyone?) is not only foolish, it also shows a lack of empathy toward the depth of human experience that religions are.

No matter your own religious convictions, one have to recognize and affirm the sincerity and depth of the personal faith of believers, both today and throughout history. It is true that many churches have been, and still are, part of the power structure of society. That is just natural, and inevitable for something that is part of this earthly life. However, the different churches and religious communities of the world do not see themselves in this manner and the faith that is found in these communities is not artificial. It is genuine and deep. Would you dare say to a recouvering alcoholic who sincerely believes that Jesus is helping and healing him that his faith is artificial? Would you say that the daughter who prays for the welfare of her mother who is suffering from dementia is under the spell of sinister power structures constructed by power-hungry people? Doing that would severely insult the raw and sheer humanity of religious faith.

In the end, the Church is not a power structure, but a community of the faithful and the living God. It is the result of the very real meeting with the divine (or, if you're an atheist, the experience of meeting the divine), and there is not one ounce of insincerity there that is not endemic to the human condition. It is not a community that is easily judged, quantified or analyzed. Its beauty and brokeness is far too wide and too deep for that. For the beauty and brokenness of the Church is a reflection of the beauty and brokenness of the faithful, and of the beauty and brokenness of Christ's lifeless body, lying in a tomb like a seed awaiting its final germination into the Resurrection and the Life. So, do you know what I think that God says to those who claims that religion is something created and artificial? "This church is my body given for you, take and eat." (Matt 26:26).