Governments seem to have forever manipulated people’s religious beliefs to suit their own agenda.

Just watched the movie "Silence" about this.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

The Shogunate leaned towards a policy of “controlled isolationism,” rightfully concerned about growing imperialism on the part of European powers in Asia. They saw how especially Portugal and Spain worked with the Jesuits in using christianity and firearms as a wedge to gain a political foothold in Japan, and eventually decided to close that door and purge themselves of this pernicious foreign influence.

That's kind of how they helped to overthrew Rome. They seemed to be instrumental in weakening it.

just like they are doing in the USA right now