Richard Dawkins. The selfish gene (№ 237360)

Many children and even some adults believe that they will incur after the death of the horrible tortures if they fail to comply with the requirements of the Church. This is a particularly nasty method of persuasion, causing people a strong psychological suffering in the middle ages and retained its influence even today. But it is extremely effective. One might think that this method was invented by the Machiavellian clergy who are specially trained in psychological methods of influence.