of clericism and men

The veneration of mighty invisible beings, which was extorted from helpless man through natural fear rooted in the sense of his impotence, did not begin with a religion but rather with a slavish worship of a god (or of idols). When this worship had achieved a certain publicly legalized form it was a temple service, and it became a church worship only after the moral culture of men was gradually united with its laws.

(In "Religion within the limits of bare reason", Emmanuel Kant)