Chavos -
I think our misunderstanding stems from my poor communication.
I didn't mean that religion and spirituality are mutually exclusive (but not necessarily mutually inclusive, either), nor that social control was the ONLY function of religion. I think that religion stripped of personal spirituality, though (spirituality = what I referred to as people seeking meaning in their lives, or what you described as exploration - I'd describe myself as a spiritual but not a religous person)...where was I?...religion stripped of spirituality (people who go to church because it's expected, or for social reasons, or to reinforce their existing social beliefs with others who think as they do) is a social institution, and I'll stand by what I've said about social institutions. So, I didn't mean to say that religion's only purpose is social control, but I can see how it looked like that.
I'll see if I can find some good sources that might be able to explain "Institutions and Social Control" theory better than I'm doing. I think there are some essays by Max Weber but I'm not sure where. Anyhow, here's a brief article that covers these ideas very shallowly: <a href="http://library.thinkquest.org/18802/usrelig.htm?tqskip1=1&tqtime=1017">
http://library.thinkquest.org/18802/...=1&tqtime=1017</a>. Keep in mind that I'm speaking of religion as a social institution, not as a personal experience, which I would refer to more as spirituality.