It does not logically follow from a person being religious, irrespective of the particular religion's veracity or falsity, that they are seeking power over other people, whether their religious adherence is sincere or insincere. This alone means there is no inherent connection between commitment to or practice of a religion and egoistic motivations. One religion can differ from another, and personal or organized practice might not reflect the actual philosophical doctrines of a religion; there is absolutely no way that all religion itself or everyone's practice of a given religion, whether it is really in conformity with the ideology or not (for many people, it is not!), is necessarily about egoism and power.
Anyone who, say, sincerely devotes their free time to helping the sick or poor despite their own poverty in the name of Christianity is absolutely not doing so because they gain material riches or immediate political power through this. Simply put, it could not in itself be about exerting power over the masses or the vulnerable within them. Yes, Judeo-Christianity's doctrines are absolutely no a stranger to exerting power and enforcing specific moral tenets using limited violence (for instance, see Exodus 21:12-17 and Deuteronomy 25:1-3). At the same time, passages like the following from the ostensibly anti-humanitarian Old Testament laws attributed to God himself could in no way on their own be about holding power over others and using it arbitrarily out of egoism to manipulate others:
Exodus 21:26-27—"'An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.'"
Exodus 22:25—"'If you lend to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.'"
Leviticus 19:9-10—"'"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God."'"
Leviticus 19:33-34—"'"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."'"
Deuteronomy 5:12-15—"'Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.'"
Deuteronomy 15:7-9—"If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend to them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: 'The seventh year, the year for cancelling debts, is near', so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin."
Deuteronomy 16:9-12—"Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as the dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees."
Deuteronomy 17:16-20—"The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, 'You are not to go back that way again.' He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel."
Deuteronomy 23:15-16—"If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress them."
Deuteronomy 24:14-15—"Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin."
Obviously, anyone who lets slaves go for abusing them as according to Exodus 21:26-27 is losing some of their power, if anything. This is about what the Torah presents as intrinsic justice rather than winning over already-liberated slaves as a political support base, for the master or mistress who mistreats them has already entitled them to immediate freedom no matter the reason why they are a servant/slave (Exodus 21:2-6, 22:3, Deuteronomy 15:12-18, 20:10-11). This cannot be about empowering anyone but the slaves or servants who go free. And while someone could be kind to others with the secret intention of manipulating the latter into giving fame, allegiance, or money to the former, this is not at all what the Torah prescribes.
You are to give because giving without expecting repayment is righteous (Deuteronomy 15:7-9); you should have a day of rest and not deprive others of one day of rest out of every seven, even if they are foreigners or your slaves, because it is their human right (Deuteronomy 5:12-15; see also Exodus 20:8-11 and 23:12). Such prescriptions and many others could hardly have some inherent bent towards the subjugation of those without power, as some mischaracterize the goal of all religious philosophy and practice. On the contrary, they are plainly about protecting and caring for the powerless, or at the very least those who in one form or another lack power.
The Judeo-Christian religion as it really is, not as it is misunderstood or assumed to be by fools, certainly is not about enriching or preserving the general power of an elite upper echelon of society like monarchs or a class of clergy. One of the most ironic things is that this religion more than many others is misunderstood as being oppressive, classist, sexist, racist, and so on, as opposed to some people who pay lip service to it try to use it as a tool for their own corporate, political, or ecclesiological power. The egalitarian, anti-authoritarian philosophy of the Torah [1] is indeed utterly against seeking power for its own sake, exercising power however one wishes, or submitting to authority figures just because they have societal prominence or privilege.
Indeed, there are no exceptions for the monarch (Deuteronomy 17:18-20), both necessarily in light of many other commands of the Torah having no exceptions based upon a person's social standing and the text of Deuteronomy 17 literally saying that the king must not turn to the right or the left from the Law and the moral obligations the written Law reflects. This contradicts the allegedly Christian idea that the monarch has absolute authority from God to demand universal submission to their subjective, petty, irrationalistic whims. One can assume that the Torah teaches this, but it does not. Genuine authoritarian submission to other people is contrary to its blatant tenets.
Once again, nothing at all about religious philosophy or commitment to it by logical necessity has to be about obtaining power. With Judeo-Christian philosophy, having power is not sinful. One can legitimately be born into financial or political power or obtain power of various kinds for oneself without sinning. Power is not the problem; using power in certain ways is evil. It is these kinds of abuses of fellow humans that Yahweh's Law condemns repeatedly in many different contexts, whether the other person is a slave, an employee, a widow, a foreigner, an impoverished person, and so on. Not even royalty is above any of these moral obligations, as addressed. Judeo-Christian moral philosophy is not about an elite class of wealthy people ruling over others for their own gain as they egoistically trample on or mislead the masses; whether true or false, it is about treating people as they deserve, and part of this is about not using power to trample on others in a host of particular ways.
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