They encourage you to let it brainwash you by making it sound like the right thing to do. I mean, they don't use machines to brainwash people: this isn't The Pinkie and the Brain (great show, it was an Animaniacs spinoff). They tell people about a God who promises them everlasting life in Heaven if they follow his church.

Yeah, and once again, it only brainwashes you if you let it. And of course they'd encourage it, if they didn't it wouldn't be very effective brainwashing would it?
Sure, the point can be made that the church is evil but hey, let's blame the "victims" of it too. It can be a big blame party, let's go.

Huh?
I'd blame the churches for making all of these rules. I wouldn't blame everyone who works with the church, but the ones who make all of these rules that are unspecified by the Ten Commandments and whatnot. I wouldn't blame the people who follow the churches, though, because they were the ones who were told that everlasting life would be given them if they believed in Christianity. And these days, though, religion is usually taught to children by their families so that they grow up believing in it. And, unlike Santa Claus, nobody ever tells them otherwise.
This is my last post for the day, because for the last fifteen minutes I've just been going back and forth between this thread and the suicide thread.

You don't blame people for letting themselves be controlled? Wow...

yeah that I dont understand. And why the church would want an army of weak-minded, weak-willed slaves is beyond me as well

I'm tellin' you, like I said above, it's gotta be a blame party. Takes all kinds of people to party.

Letting themselves be controlled? DO you blame Jews for the Holocaust because they let the Nazis kill them in concentration camps?
I know that's not a good comparison, it's just the principle that is similar.
I'm not going to blame people who were taught from childhood that they need to go to church, pray, and believe, and all that for doing so. If you were brought up to believe that a certain type of food was good for you, then you finally get to eat it and it is poisonous, I would blame the people who told you it is good; not you for eating it.

Most of your other arguments have been pretty decent in this thread but this one is just horrible. The Holocaust was a really bad example. They couldn't control what happened to them. We're not talking about oppression on the scale of Hitler, here, we're talking day to day oppression in "free" countries. You always reach for the most awkward examples to prove your point.

Whereas you or I, or T_S_L or Hatchet or Joad or Billy or Phil or Bob or Melissa or Sandra or etc, CAN question the church and their beliefs on a regular basis. Because we're free to do that. The people who go through their entire lives and don't question anything are to be blamed for what happened to them, just as much as the Church that tried to enslave them.
Considering I grew up in a really religious household, and now I'm where I am, so...

People have to experience life themselves, find their own path. And more importantly, they have to live with their own decisions.

you know what i dont feel like tyuping but im pretty sure that butler said the other day that he has never been in a church in his life so i dont know how he knows

Hahaha. This is just like his views on heart break then. Oh well.
I used to go to church and it really wasn't as evil as people make it out to be, but that's just a personal thing, all churches are different. Some are more hateful and er, fascist than others. You just worshipped God, sang and listened to the pastor talk about things you were supposed to believe anyway.