The Church preached contempt for the things of this world, and in doing so acquired dominion over monarchs. The Friars took a vow of poverty, which so impressed the world that it increased the already enormous wealth of the Church.
Source： Bertrand Russell: Power, 1938.
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If the founder of a religion is a person of great character, a religious organization is formed to systematically spread their teachings to a wider audience. Some degree of organization is inevitable if those teachings are to be preserved and transmitted over time. However, as the size of the organization grows, corruption and abuse of power almost inevitably follow. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a religion or religious organization that has remained entirely free from corruption or the misuse of authority. In fact, it seems that quite a few people even found religions purely for the sake of making money.
In "Today's Words from Russell," he points out that the Church, by preaching the virtue of poverty, impressed many people, and as a result, its wealth continued to grow. If churches and religious organizations were to distribute the majority of their donated funds each year to the poor, they would surely earn even greater respect. However, in reality, such ideals are not put into practice, since doing so would make it difficult to maintain or expand the organization.
While the separation of religion and politics is supposed to be a fundamental principle, politicians, seeking electoral support from religious groups, often profess their commitment to this principle in public, while behind the scenes attempting to build mutually beneficial relationships, ones that amount to exchanges of votes for political favors.
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