I have to invert your first statement to make sense: do you (I) agree that religion in any form can be used as a force to encourage corruption?<p>To which I would reply yes, religion in any form can be (and is) used to support and encourage corruption.<p>All (communal, as opposed to internal) religions look good on the surface, promising wealth (prosperity gospel Christianity), eternal life (various abrahamic religions), removal of body thetans (scientology), etc.<p>They all share the attribute of not being provable, and all will fight (often quite literally) for their own survival based on no evidence at all.<p>And they all require the existence of THE OTHER, a threat, sometimes existential, sometimes racial but in some way unacceptably different.<p>Actions against THE OTHER are seen as noble, even when they otherwise seem to go against the letter and spirit of the communal creed.<p>Religion cannot be used as a tool of inclusion because for someone to be considered &quot;good&quot;, there has to also be an identifiable &quot;evil&quot;. Strangely, nobody ever claims this latter title for themselves.<p>Finally, I&#x27;m sure we (you and I) will never know for sure, but I&#x27;m willing to bet the majority of the authorities involved here were all part of their community churches.