It wasn’t their purpose, no. But that’s what they have evolved to, historically, yes.

All religions were created around very regular, ordinary people who became enlightened and tried to communicate truth to other people, for example, Gautama Buddha or Jesus Christ.

But ego subverts the truth and takes it literally as a set of instructions to follow, builds hierarchies among followers, and immediately starts judging other people who don’t follow what it follows as less evolved ones. So in the absence of the original person who spoke it, all religions become matters of subjugation and conflict relatively quickly. Then, of course, if “the right way to live” infects a good number of people, it can be used to induce fear into them, control them, and punish them for the aberrant behavior, and before long you have traditional power in form of kings and monarchs get in bed with religion to have a more efficient way of controlling the population. Physically with a sword in one hand, mentally with religion in another.

All religions are junk. Even Gautama Buddha himself said “scriptures are to be thrown”. If only modern day Buddhists listened to what Gautama actually said.

Buddism is still one of the least destructive religions in this regard, Christianity, for example, is far more oppressive, far more poisonous. Islam, as a later branch of Christianity, even more so.

All the truth is in the mind, we all know it. One doesn’t need religion to realize it, one just need the courage to look deep inside. Submitting yourself mentally to any kind of oppression is counter-productive and stupid.