Thinking about it (not always the best option!) surely we have to ask ourselves if our mind is free. So much around us is seeking to control us, make us puppets dancing to a particular tune.
Easy to see "religion" as a tool of control, congratulate ourselves that we have not succumbed to that particular brand of control and thus, think ourselves "free".
Freedom of thought demands much of us.
Religion says "Be not conformed to this world" (New Testament) Such is not a command that seeks to control, but rather is one that calls us to true freedom - or at least, to seek it.
I'd say that religious "control" comes in when groups come together and then seek to dictate exactly what such non conforming to the world consists of! Just another set of rules, beliefs and allegiances that divide people. Freedom is found elsewhere.
“So this holy life.....does not have gain, honour, and renown for its benefit, or the attainment of virtue for its benefit, or the attainment of concentration for its benefit, or knowledge and vision for its benefit. But it is this unshakeable deliverance of mind that is the goal of this holy life, its heartwood, and its end.”
(Majjhima Nikaya, Theravada Buddhist text)
