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カトリック教会はこの世の物事（俗事）に対する軽蔑を説き，そうすることによって君主たちに対する支配権を獲得した。托鉢修道士たちは清貧の誓いを立てたが，それは世の人々に深い感銘を与え，その結果、既に莫大となっていた教会の富をさらに増加させた。
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.
More info.：https://russell-j.com/beginner/POWER04_280.HTM
＜寸言＞
教祖が立派な人物であれば、その教えを組織的に多くの人々に普及させるために教団が形成されます。教えを長く伝えるには、一定の組織化が避けられないからです。そうして、教団の規模が大きくなるにつれ、必ずといってよいほど、腐敗が進行したり、権力の濫用が起こったりします。私の知る限り、腐敗や権力の濫用と無縁であり続けた宗教や教団はありません。なかには、金儲けのために宗教を創始する者も少なくないように思われます。「今日のラッセルの言葉」では、教会が清貧を説くことによって多くの人々に感銘を与え、その結果、教会の財産が増え続けることを指摘しています。教会や教団は寄付されるお金の大部分を、毎年、貧しい人々に配るようにすればますます尊敬されるはずです。しかし現実には、そうすれば教団の維持や拡張が難しくなるため、そのような理想は実行されません。政教分離が原則のはずですが、政治家は選挙で宗教団体の支援を得るためには、表向きはそのように唱えても、裏ではウィンウィンの関係（票と便宜の交換のような関係）を築こうとします。
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.