. . . Most lucrative Marketing Scam in all Human History has been Religion.
I think religion was conceived by the aristocrats to give Hope to the lower classes.
The farmers, herders, peasants who scrounged just to survive and were in hopelessness needed something to give them hope. Religion told them that it was not their fault they were suffering. It was because of the evils of others. BUT, they could have a grand prospect in the future.
So it is today. Religion still promises HOPE for the future. Eternal life in Paradise (earthly or heavenly). No sickness. No death. No evil. No sorrow.
It is the scam that has worked for millenniums and continues on to this day. Yet, no evidence that anyone has been anything but scammed.