God's warriors
Out of context: Reply #350
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- TheBlueOne0
I have no problem with the validity and very real need of (most) human beings to need spiritual solace in whatever cultural/personal form they require - and I say that as a card carrying believer in the Enlightenment.
And honestly, the history of religion is similar to the history of agriculture and industry - as you get more people into the system doing more concentrated bits of the labor (or whatever it is), you're going to need a systemic hierarchy. It's just how systems work. But unlike stuff based in the physical world, religions are just made up rules and things that get codified and then run into trouble when they no longer reflect physical or cultural reality over time. Now, there are a few ways to avoid that if you're a religion - a) co-opt shit over time (see Christianity, Islam, Buddhism et. al.) or b) stay selective and develop ways to handle heretics in house (see Judaism, other smaller sects and cults). If you're religion can't adapt you go the way of the dinosaur (anyone praying to Zeus these days? Yeah. Thought not.)
And all of these religions were very geographically rooted - and once we get civilizations bumping into each other outside their geographical centers then you get big "My god is bigger than your god" food fights. Good times.
But any hierachical system generates heretics within. Someone who points out that the emporer is naked or that the map and territory don't align. Oddly I find it amusing that Christianity is the most successful religion at spinning heretical movements into new christian belief systems yet so many proclaim that each of the spinoffs is the real deal - and even more amusing that the ones who are now farthest form the source (in time, culture & geography)are the loudest in proclaiming their legitimacy as the sole interpretation to the point of apocalypse.
I find the whole process funny.