Religions as a Means of Rule of the Strong over the Weak by Bogdan Jacek Góralski

Religions as a Means of Rule of the Strong over the Weak
Bogdan Jacek Góralski

For thousands of years, religions have accompanied humanity as an answer to the fear of death, loneliness, and the chaos of the world. They bring consolation, impose order on reality, and give meaning to suffering. Yet alongside this spiritual function there is another, often hidden one: religions are also instruments of power. They serve to preserve hierarchies, justify inequalities, and secure the rule of the strong over the weak. Understanding this double face of religion is a condition for building a new, more honest social order.

1. The source of religion: fear and the need for order

The primal human being faced forces he did not understand: storms, floods, droughts, diseases, sudden death. From this helplessness grew the need for an explanation: someone must be directing all this, someone must be giving it meaning. Thus myths arose, and from them – religions.

It was natural that people sought spiritual guides: shamans, priests, prophets. They combined in themselves two kinds of power:

• symbolic power – because they knew the rituals, words of prayers, the “language of the gods”;
• practical power – because they became intermediaries in access to resources (land, temple goods, protection of the community).

In this way, religion from the very beginning intertwined with politics and economics. The fear of the weak and the ignorance of the masses became the foundation of the rule of the strong – not only physically, but above all symbolically and organizationally.

2. The mechanism of domination: the sanctification of hierarchy

The basic mechanism of religious domination consists in giving social hierarchy the rank of sacredness. What in reality is the result of violence, cunning, or historical accident is presented as the “will of God”.

This mechanism has several elements:

1. The exceptional status of clergy
   Priests, imams, Brahmins, rabbis, monks – all of them are proclaimed guardians of contact with the Absolute. This gives them a position above ordinary people. Whoever questions their authority supposedly opposes God Himself.
2. Sanctification of political power
   Kings “by the grace of God”, sultans as “shadows of God on earth”, emperors as “sons of heaven” – religion legitimizes those who hold violence in their hands. In exchange for material and legal privileges it supports their rule over the people.
3. Preservation of social inequalities
   Caste systems, peasant serfdom, subordination of women – all this has been and still is religiously justified. “This is what God wants”, “this is ancient tradition”, “this is written in the holy book”.
4. The moral alchemy of guilt and reward
   Poverty, illness, and humiliation are explained as punishment for sins, a test of faith, or a “cross given by God”. Meanwhile, wealth and power are interpreted as a reward for virtue and a sign of being chosen. In this way the victim is to stop rebelling against the oppressor.

Religion thus becomes a system of psychological domestication: the weak are to not only fear the strong, but also regard their superiority as sacred and deserved.

3. Hidden religious capital as an instrument of domination

Contemporary religions possess not only symbolic influence, but also enormous, often hidden capital. Real estate, shares in companies, funds, donations, bequests – all this creates a parallel financial circulation, invisible to ordinary believers and often also to the state.

This capital:

• is accumulated thanks to the trust and generosity of the weak, who donate part of their modest means in the hope of blessing;
• is managed by narrow elites, who decide whom to support and whom to omit;
• becomes an instrument of quiet influence: through loans, investments, and business ties, the obedient can be rewarded and the disobedient punished.

Believers who have no access to information about this flow of capital remain in the role of “givers” – they contribute to the wealth of the institution but have no share in decisions and profits. This is a model example of the rule of the strong over the weak: the strong manage in the name of God, the weak are to trust and pay.

4. Religion as a tool of managing emotions

Religions are masters of managing collective emotions. Fear, guilt, hope, ecstasy – all of this can be subtly used to maintain control.

• Fear of hell or damnation restrains people from rebelling against injustice. It is better to “patiently carry one’s cross” than to demand a change of system.
• A sense of guilt can paralyze: a person who considers himself a sinner stops believing in his right to dignity and protest.
• Religious ecstasy gives temporary relief and a sense of power, but if it does not lead to action, it becomes a narcotic: instead of organizing themselves socially, people return for another dose of emotion.

Emotions thus managed make human masses an easy material for steering. It is enough to properly choose sermons, symbols, feasts, and enemies (real or imagined) in order to direct the anger of the faithful wherever the elites desire.

5. Why do the weak accept this?

The rule of the strong over the weak through religion would not be possible if the weak did not co‑participate in this mechanism. This happens for several reasons:

1. Lack of organizational alternatives
   Where the state is weak or corrupt and civil society does not exist, religion is often the only structure providing a sense of community. People prefer even a hierarchical community to loneliness.
2. Tradition and fear of exclusion
   Leaving a religious community may mean exclusion from the local environment, family, and support networks. Many people prefer to submit than to be “cast out”.
3. Economic ignorance
   Most believers do not understand financial mechanisms, do not know the real scale of the wealth of religious institutions, and cannot read balance sheets and reports. It is then easy to believe that “the Church is poor” and needs constant support.
4. Hope for individual benefits
   Some people count on personal advancement from subordination to the hierarchy: a better job, better contacts, protection from problems. In this way a clientelistic pyramid of dependence is created.

Thus a closed circle arises: the weak reinforce those who rule over them because they fear losing the last remnants of security and meaning.

6. What about the positive potential of religion?

Religion, however, is not solely an instrument of domination. It also contains liberating potential:

• it reminds us of the dignity of every human being;
• it calls for solidarity with the poor;
• it condemns greed and the arrogance of power;
• it offers a language to criticize injustice.

The problem is that this potential is consistently weakened, reinterpreted, or marginalized by institutions interested in maintaining the existing order.

Therefore the key task of our time is to separate the ethical core of religion from the institutional mechanisms of domination. The point is to:

• preserve the spiritual heritage of prophets and sages,
• and at the same time take away from elites the possibility of hiding behind their names in order to enrich themselves and rule.

7. From a religion of domination to a religion of co‑ownership

How can we limit the function of religion as an instrument of the rule of the strong over the weak without destroying the spiritual core of faith?

One proposal is to transform religious communities into transparent, self‑governing communities of co‑owners:

1. Full financial transparency
   All income and expenditures are published and discussed by the community. Every believer has the right to know what happens to his offering.
2. Cooperative ownership of assets
   Real estate, land, shares – instead of belonging to a narrow elite, they become the property of a parish or community cooperative in which every member has a share.
3. Democratic investment decisions
   The community decides whether funds go to help the poor, to build housing, to local enterprises, to education or health. Clergy act as moral advisers, not sole decision‑makers.
4. Basing religion on work, not passivity
   Faith is expressed in how the community organizes work, wages, its attitude to migrants, to the weak, and to the natural environment. Prayer without action is no longer regarded as sufficient.
5. Linking spirituality with modern knowledge
   Social sciences, economics, ecology – all of this is integrated into religious reflection. God ceases to be a pretext for preserving ignorance and becomes the name of an order that demands transparency and justice.

In such a model, religion ceases to be a system of domination and becomes a school of mature freedom and co‑responsibility. The strong can no longer easily hide behind the authority of holiness, because every financial and organizational step is subject to common assessment.

8. Conclusion: God against the religion of domination

If we accept that God – understood as the highest moral order of the Universe – does not support lies, violence, and exploitation, we must honestly say: God stands against religion as an instrument of the rule of the strong over the weak.

Atheists or critics are not the greatest enemies of faith. The greatest enemies are those who use the name of God to build their own fortune, power, and impunity. They profane the sacred by turning it into a tool of control.

Therefore, true reform of religion does not consist in multiplying new dogmas or emotional piety. It consists in:

• revealing hidden structures of domination;
• transforming religious wealth into transparent common good;
• building communities in which the weak truly gain a voice, and not only the promise of reward after death.

Religions may remain spaces of prayer, hope, and encounter with Mystery. But only when they cease to be instruments of the rule of the strong over the weak will they be able to become the foundation of a just global order – such as we try to outline in the POL‑CAT system and in the concept of the Arks of Survival.

Jakuszowice, July 19,2026:10:47
Bogdan Jacek Góralski