Countless men, women, and children have been slaughtered to appease the gods throughout human history and in many civilizations around the world — and the real reason they were slain may not have been to appease the gods like everyone thinks.

Instead, a new study published in the journal Nature argues that priests and rulers who sanctioned the mass slaughter of innocent people had a much more pragmatic and sinister reason: to keep the powerful in power, and the working class in check.

This is based on an analysis of dozens of Austronesian cultures who practiced human sacrifice, finding that it made socieities less egalitarian and resulted in inherited class systems.

The study argues that there is a direct link between religion and modern hierarchical societies, meaning that the impact of human sacrifice still infects us today. It allows humans to transition from small egalitarian groups to the large societies we have today.