It's really ironic that they pushed those beliefs, I mean, Jesus frequently condemned greed mongering and made it clear that no rich man can enter heaven. If you look at the development of Christianity you will see that it diverged from it's initial message almost as soon as the whole thing was written down. Back in those days only priests were allowed to read so people only really knew what they were told and couldn't read the scriptures for themselves. I would also bet that many of those people who went around saying that "god wants this" and "god wants that" have never had a spiritual moment in their lives. There are all kinds of people in this world looking to bend it and change it to work for them. It's like they wish nature itself has been rearranged.

All of this aside I would say that there's a distinct separation between the material world and the spiritual world and that those people were completely controlled by their governments at the time. You must work in accordance with your heart and only your heart, and your true will and only your true will, as long as it doesn't interfere with the true will of others. That is my one belief. If you try to coerce or condemn people for doing something that you are not doing it's generally frowned upon. This is not to be confused with not defending yourself or not defending your fellow earthlings.

I suppose then it could be concluded that government no longer effectively uses religion to control people, it uses capitalism instead.

In Hinduism, a pantheistic religion, there are spiritual paths and deity families that govern the different paths people may want to take. You can achieve enlightenment from all sorts of things in life. There isn't just one way to find happiness, there are thousands. It's whatever suits the individual, be it art, love, religion, peace, compassion, it doesn't matter. There is no right or wrong and if you look for it you'll walk yourself and talk yourself into a circle like I have here.

I can't believe I've opened up about all of this stuff here because I never have to anyone so thanks for listening I guess. I hope that maybe my little thing here could convince some people that religion isn't a horrible thing that should be wiped out of our minds entirely. It has its place and it's beauty can be restored and accessed by anyone who wants to believe in something bigger than them.