Saturday, May 7, 2011

Speculations -- No Jesus

If the Christian religion had never existed, what would be the cultural consequences. Here are my guesses.

1. Europe and America would still be religious but a mix of faiths might have survived the fall of Rome. Manichean and Mithrasist temples might dot the land. Paganism might not have died out but it would still have had to evolve, becoming less magical and more mystical. On the other hand, if Europe wasn't united under one religion, Islam might have conquered Western Europe.

2. There might be less interest in equality. Christianity, early on, stressed equality between ethnic groups. "No Jew or Greek, no slave or free." While the New Testament is silent on slavery and suggests that women should be subject to their husbands in spiritual matters, Christianity is still firm on the idea your capacity for salvation doesn't depend on things like martial prowess or social status. From these ideas of metaphysical equality, ideas of equality in this world could readily spring.

3. The conquest of the new world might have been somewhat less aggressive if Europeans did not have the fig leaf of one true religion to hide their greed behind.

4. There might be less science and technology. Monotheism leads readily to the idea of universal natural laws. If natural forces were seen as operating according to there own whims rather than ordered by one God, our understanding of them might not have advanced as much as it has. Some things, such as probability theory could advance through analysis alone, but the idea of finding out natures regularities through observation and experiment might not have gotten off the ground as quickly.

5. Sexual morality would be affected but it's impossible to say how. Christianity, despite it's demand for monogamy and hetrosexuality, is hardly the only tradition that restricts sexual behavior.

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