He said:

Reduced to the simplest terms, a stick and a carrot for the faithful.

Hell awaits if you disobey.
Heaven is the reward for doing what you are told.

But what would we call it when an idealistic cop or teacher advises a young gang member as follows: "Look, Jason, if you keep hanging with the gangs and dealing crack, you are going to wind up very badly...in jail or dead. Is that what you want? Why not instead go back to school, obey your parents, obey the law, and then I won't be on your back anynmore, will I? And you can have a good future ahead of you, get a good job, find a nice girl, and live a happy family life. What's it gonna be, Jason? What future do you want for yourself?"

The cop (or teacher) just offered the crack-dealing kid a carrot and a stick.

What exactly is wrong with offering a person a carrot and a stick if it is done with a positive intent? We do it all the time with our own children when we're bringing them up.

What Don T. appears to be ojecting to is the very idea OF organized religion per se, rather than the concept of the carrot and the stick.

Every crucial decision we face between making a serious mistake and not making it does involve a carrot and a stick if you are capable of seeing the situation clearly.

Religious teachings in all cultures and religions advise people not to be cruel, selfish, criminal, violent, greedy, unloving, etc...or there will be negative consequences. Will anyone here assert that there are no negative consequences to such negative behaviour? We can argue till the cows come home about what form those consequences will take, but they will definitely come in one form or another. In India they call that "karma".

We all know about the carrot and the stick, and we face it everwhere in life, not just in religion.

If Don's objecting to a religion based on fear, well, then, we're on the same page. I'm not at all attracted to religious groups that use fear as a motivator. I'm attracted to those who use love, idealism, and a sense of responsibility and community as motivators.