On Thu, Nov 28, 2002 at 10:33:55AM -0800, "Penney, Sean" <seanp at ea.com> wrote: > I wonder - is it possible for a civilization to develop to a > "high" state without religion? Perhaps it's a necessary bootstrap and social meme. However, there comes a point past which you no longer need religion to advance further -- though you may need it as a form of socialization and a check on the worst impulses of human behavior, still. The jury is still out on that. > The South American civilizations, the Egyptians, Sumerians > (O.T. - I've read that the Sumerians were matriarchal) - all > these civilizations used religion as a catapult to greatness. Not really... I don't define greatness by pyramids and ziggurats. > The pyramids of Egypt and the ziggurats of S. America would not > have been built without faith in something. They *could* have been built. They *would not* have been built. While they are rather impressive to look at, they didn't really provide commensurate benefits to civilization. I'd rather spend those resources on science, space, and similar things that provide a real return. > The Greeks and Romans were well down the civilized path before > they turned their backs on their Gods, much like modern > civilization, but their civilizations were > toppled/fragmented/absorbed by less "advanced" races who > brought their own gods with them. The romans were an official Christian empire when they fell, remember. > I wonder where we would be on the "religion" question if the > golden age of western civilization had continued uninterrupted > to present day - if there had never been a "Dark Ages". Probably about where we are today -- focused on scientific exploration, with religion an afterthought and a mumbled prayer once in a while. -- Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org) Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/index.jsp Politics: http://www.triggerfinger.org/index.jsp