While this may not be technology related, I do feel that in some respects this does have a decent amount to do with Social Engineering and effects everybody. One of the biggest things in American life that is organized religion. With that in mind, what I (and several other people within SX have seen) is that most churches have operated to profit in one form or another whether it be financially or by notoriety. With that in mind, in every religious group I have seen in my life, I have seen people be manipulated to heed their word whether it be by the arbitrary promise of social standing, financial gain, self-improvement, or the manipulation of various personal fears.
First and foremost, let me say that in order to succeed financially, socially, and/or improve yourself the only person who really is responsible for that is the person themselves. Somehow though, it is easy for somebody to convince themselves to think that believing in some supernatural or mystical force will fix their woes magically when the reality is that there is no real logical or factual basis for such thinking. So the question at hand is how are people sold on such an flawed system of logic? Well, there are 3 main things that really are catalysts for such a thing to happen:
1. Religious influence from family members. Many people are brought up a certain religion and in some respects do not know any better as a result.
2. Religious influence from friends or social circle. Many people follow so they can bang a certain hot chick, hang out with certain cool people, or just simply be accepted.
3. Religious influence from the community. Let's face it, in many respects the concept of separation of church and state in America is a joke.
4. Somebody believing that following religion will help them in life somehow.
Now with this in mind I will state that people shouldn't think any less of those who do practice religion as it is their choice. However, I do encourage those people reading this and currently following organized religion to evaluate their experiences as a part of their religion to see if truly do follow it and are happy as a part of it.
Now, another issue I've seen is that it is sadly commonplace to see people using organized religion for their own gain (Which happens quite a bit where I live.) or try to act like authority figures with some title that means nothing outside of their place of worship and shows blatant hypocrisy by not acting humble like how the majority of major religions say their followers should be. To me, it is those people who commit obvious acts of hypocrisy such as this that should be put to task.
In closing, while I have spoken concerning organized religion as a whole, I figure I should put up a couple of Youtube vids concerning the factual issues of one such religion and leave this open to friendly debate should anyone be interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tgdQM9MO5s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTSjGNEdcPQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pVRavPUz9s
*At this point in time I wish to credit The Church of the Subgenius as this blog's main title is based off of the title of their first pamphlet.