"In your estimation, approximately what percentage of the ruling
class " I can answer. "has no genuine belief in God, but " I
can't answer. I can't know the genuineness of someone's beliefs
or not. "portrays themselves as religious in a deliberate
attempt to garner the support" I can answer. "of the religious
portion of the public, and to perpetuate religion as a system of
control?" I can't answer because: a) I don't know if they are
targeting specifically the religious portion of the public. b) I
don't know if their purpose is to perpetuate religion as a
system of control. c) I don't really understand what "religion
as a system of control" is supposed to mean. So, I can answer
this: "In your estimation, approximately what percentage of the
ruling class [...] portrays themselves as religious in a
deliberate attempt to garner the support [...] of the public?"
As politicians are actors and always "on", 100%, I believe that
we can never know what they really believe about anything. I
don't know how much they believe what they say. I don't know how
much they're saying thing to get _us_ to believe. But
"portraying" is key. Politicians portray [something]. Whose
support are they trying to get? Religious and non-religious
alike. Even people who are non-religious (who aren't
anti-religion, just non-religious) might see a religious person
as potentially more stable of a personality.
