Religion - about God or Power?

(The following post is not about people that are religious and who hold high righteous religious principles. Its about the institution of religion and its present manifestation as a powerhouse of politics and corruption.)

In this day and age, its become important not to let religion come in the way of your spirituality - because religion is about Power, not God. If love is the basis of every religion and God is the epitome of everything thats pure and good, why is every war being fought today, rooted in religious fanaticism?

Origin of religion?
Maybe what must have started as a coming together of people with common goals and noble intentions has somehow, over a few hundred years, metamorphosized into frenzied, fanatical communities that more resemble cults.

1.Exclusivity:
When a religion says that they alone have the exclusive path to the Omnipresent, I have a problem with being able to follow that religion. If by avoiding certain rituals, I have reserved my place in hell, that doesn't sound like a merciful God to me.

2.Telling People What to Do
I believe that we, as human beings, are born with the free will to do what we want, be with who we want and lead a life style of our preference. When religion goes beyond offering suggestions, thats a warning sign for me to back off.

3.Money
Power and money complement each other. Where there is money and power, purity is lost. So, even if they are donations, when there is a lot of money brought into a religious institution, corruption and politics are very likely to follow. Money, power, corruption and politics - most likely partners in crime.

4.Prejudice
I'm not against people that are religious. I like someone who stands by what they believe in. What I'm against is people that are religious looking down upon atheists and followers of alternate faith, and ,athiests treating religious people with disdain.

5.Insecurity
Why do people like to convert non-followers into their religion? The age-old human tendency to believe that there is security in numbers. There are some religions that multiply organically. Some others believe their aim in life is to bring civilization to people that have no food and trade food with religion to increase their following.

I believe that being a human (or a human being) is far too important that being a follower of my religion or being a citizen of a country, or having excessive tendencies of language or region nativity. A sense of belonging is a good feeling to have, but that cannot define who we are.

If the heart be followed in our actions and if love is our prime emotion and if we treat ourselves and others with compassion and empathy, do we really 'need' a religion to tell us what to do? Isn't it important to feel the God inside us than to look for the "godmen" outside us?