I’m not a believer, at all. I went to a Christian school for an education, and that was all. Neither of my parents were religious, and my Christian grandma married my Muslim grandfather. I am very much comfortably on the outside looking in here.
I’m not disputing that churches themselves are not based around social control, only that the core values as they were expressed to me are not that controlling.
To grossly simplify, if Jesus had just said “Be nice to each other”, most of us wouldn’t consider that overtly controlling. When a church later extrapolates that to “Every egg is life, killing life isnt nice, abortion is banned”, thats when it becomes control.
If you think that its impossible to seperate the church structures from the core beliefs, thats perfectly reasonable. The evidence is firmly in your favour. I am well aware of the bullshit being pushed by these “churches” in the US, and we have the exact same issues in Australia.
Anyway, thanks for you comments, i think we have both made our points, I wont waste any more of your time.