The same lawmakers who voted to send taxpayer funds to private Christian schools are panicking now that Muslim schools are participating in the program
…for about 4000 years humans have been on the cusp of something greater, yet some religious fucks keep holding us back because we have to build pyramids…
Historically not the best take. Early civilizations like Egypt relied on religion to create a social hierarchy. The Pharoah was believed to be divine and that is why they had the right to rule.
Even earlier in Mesopotamia those first city states operated on the same general idea. Religion seems to be an important part in forming early social hierarchy. You even see this in Aztec and Inca cultures.
So yeah to have complex organized societies it seems a few pyramids were necessary.
That being said now in the modern period religion isn’t necessary, but it does seem to have been very important in the past to building complex society as we know it.
In fact, hierarchical authoritarianism (both religious, political, and mixtures) IS the proverbial pyramids.
If not for the pyramids and the exploitation they represent, the Egyptians could have been a much more egalitarian and thus successful society.
So yeah to have complex organized societies it seems a few pyramids were necessary
Nope! Complexity and organization does NOT necessitate strict and often arbitrary hierarchy.
That being said now in the modern period religion isn’t necessary
🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀
but it does seem to have been very important in the past to building complex society
Nope. They just hadn’t invented better systems of government yet. In fact, every time social progress has been achieved, it’s been in SPITE if religion, never because of it.
We have hierarchy, always have. Even chimpanzees have a social hierarchy.
Every human society has had a hierarchy of some sort. What changes is the distribution of resources. Historically as societies become more complex social stratification increases and resources become less evenly distributed. Defining complex society is a bit well complex but I can go into the anthropological paradigms currently being used in the field if you want.
Unfortunately you have taken a conversation focused on an anthropological/archaeological break down of human society’s relation to organized religion and tried to match it to your political philosophy. I regret to inform you it does not.
Now that being said what was does not necessitate what must be. I think we have to ask ourselves why as a species every time we developed a complex society we included stratification, religion, and an uneven distribution of resources if we ever want to move past those things. Is the answer truly as simple as “we just hadn’t invented better systems of government yet”? Or is there something about our inherent being that causes us to repeat this pattern independently across multiple unrelated societies?
I don’t have the answers to these, no one does. And they are the subject of much academic debate.
Now moving into the realm of personal opinion. I do agree that we have progressed and can form a much better form of governance. I do however believe that religion was an important factor in the creation of ancient socities and to the eventual progression to us. I do agree though that religion has caused a lot of harm and is not necessary for modern society. But in the times past where we were just beginning to write and raise crops there is an undeniable repeating pattern of religion and its relation to societal structure.
So to sum it up politically and as it applies to modern times I’m with you. But as an archaeologist I have to disagree with your interpretation of the past.
The religious outnumber, mainly due to cults know how to nab the average human.
Mainly, talk loudly, act aggressive, play on common fears, and act like you have all the answers. It helps if you mention receiving them from a disembodied voice only you can hear, who speaks of doom and says you’re the prophet/savior.
I don’t think people understand the amount of coercion inherent in any religion, even the more mundane ones, unless they were in it and got out. I grew up in a liberal brand of Lutheranism I like to refer to as beer-drinking Christianity because it’s so harmless seeming. And yet looking back it was rife with the kinds of things experts would absolutely label brainwashing tactics. Of course under the guise of fun activities like church camps and such but that makes it all the more dangerous.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, that’s not my point. My point is that the statement “religious fucks have held us back for millennia” is nonsensical because before the last three hundred years or so everyone was a “religious fuck.”
…for about 4000 years humans have been on the cusp of something greater, yet some religious fucks keep holding us back because we have to build pyramids…
Historically not the best take. Early civilizations like Egypt relied on religion to create a social hierarchy. The Pharoah was believed to be divine and that is why they had the right to rule.
Even earlier in Mesopotamia those first city states operated on the same general idea. Religion seems to be an important part in forming early social hierarchy. You even see this in Aztec and Inca cultures.
So yeah to have complex organized societies it seems a few pyramids were necessary.
That being said now in the modern period religion isn’t necessary, but it does seem to have been very important in the past to building complex society as we know it.
Society ≠ hierarchy.
In fact, hierarchical authoritarianism (both religious, political, and mixtures) IS the proverbial pyramids.
If not for the pyramids and the exploitation they represent, the Egyptians could have been a much more egalitarian and thus successful society.
Nope! Complexity and organization does NOT necessitate strict and often arbitrary hierarchy.
🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀
Nope. They just hadn’t invented better systems of government yet. In fact, every time social progress has been achieved, it’s been in SPITE if religion, never because of it.
Yeah, very much the warts of it all.
We have hierarchy, always have. Even chimpanzees have a social hierarchy.
Every human society has had a hierarchy of some sort. What changes is the distribution of resources. Historically as societies become more complex social stratification increases and resources become less evenly distributed. Defining complex society is a bit well complex but I can go into the anthropological paradigms currently being used in the field if you want.
Unfortunately you have taken a conversation focused on an anthropological/archaeological break down of human society’s relation to organized religion and tried to match it to your political philosophy. I regret to inform you it does not.
Now that being said what was does not necessitate what must be. I think we have to ask ourselves why as a species every time we developed a complex society we included stratification, religion, and an uneven distribution of resources if we ever want to move past those things. Is the answer truly as simple as “we just hadn’t invented better systems of government yet”? Or is there something about our inherent being that causes us to repeat this pattern independently across multiple unrelated societies?
I don’t have the answers to these, no one does. And they are the subject of much academic debate.
Now moving into the realm of personal opinion. I do agree that we have progressed and can form a much better form of governance. I do however believe that religion was an important factor in the creation of ancient socities and to the eventual progression to us. I do agree though that religion has caused a lot of harm and is not necessary for modern society. But in the times past where we were just beginning to write and raise crops there is an undeniable repeating pattern of religion and its relation to societal structure.
So to sum it up politically and as it applies to modern times I’m with you. But as an archaeologist I have to disagree with your interpretation of the past.
The religious outnumber, mainly due to cults know how to nab the average human. Mainly, talk loudly, act aggressive, play on common fears, and act like you have all the answers. It helps if you mention receiving them from a disembodied voice only you can hear, who speaks of doom and says you’re the prophet/savior.
I don’t think people understand the amount of coercion inherent in any religion, even the more mundane ones, unless they were in it and got out. I grew up in a liberal brand of Lutheranism I like to refer to as beer-drinking Christianity because it’s so harmless seeming. And yet looking back it was rife with the kinds of things experts would absolutely label brainwashing tactics. Of course under the guise of fun activities like church camps and such but that makes it all the more dangerous.
Man it sucks so hard that humans have been held back by religious fucks such as checks notes Isaac Newton.
Isaac Newton’s religion was as relevant to his scientific achievements as Hitler’s vegetarianism was to his atrocities.
In other words: correlation doesn’t equal causation.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, that’s not my point. My point is that the statement “religious fucks have held us back for millennia” is nonsensical because before the last three hundred years or so everyone was a “religious fuck.”