Did Affluence Spur the Rise of Modern Religions?

[freediver]

this thread really is about the birth of religion

So pre-affluent societies were irreligious?

Ian Morris gets into this a bit in his book "Why the West Rules ~ for Now". He basically argues that each age gets the religion, culture, ideology etc that it needs. I see religion has having a causative influence on society.

[Super Nova]

this thread really is about the birth of religion

So pre-affluent societies were irreligious?

Ian Morris gets into this a bit in his book "Why the West Rules ~ for Now". He basically argues that each age gets the religion, culture, ideology etc that it needs. I see religion has having a causative influence on society.

So pre-affluent societies were irreligious? - no but pre-affluent societies had religions that were not as morals based as those that follow. When our cities got bigger, how people treat each other must have become an issue and morality in religion evolved as important.

Religion has been an integral part of the our societies evolution.

[Rorschach]

I note the vast majority of that pie chart is actually Christian.
By a long way.

For someone who wants to keep religion out of discourse you sure do bring it up a lot SN. Even in the Science and Tech category?

[freediver]

no but pre-affluent societies had religions that were not as morals based as those that follow

So "thou shalt not steal" was not an issue until people had property rights?

[Super Nova]

no but pre-affluent societies had religions that were not as morals based as those that follow

So "thou shalt not steal" was not an issue until people had property rights?

Not true. People had possessions from the begin. If land ownership is what you mean by property, they were owned by the rulers generally.

Roach,

Feel free to discuss religion were ever you want.

Until the a few hundred years ago, they were linked and religion control science, natural sciences, and what people had to believe.

[Neferti]

HEAVEN

Tell me about it.

[Super Nova]

HEAVEN

Tell me about it.

A myth created by men to control people in this reality and give them hope it will be better in the afterlife.

Great concept really. Suffer today and accept your lot and obey your religious leadership and your suffering will be rewarded when you are dead.

[freediver]

no but pre-affluent societies had religions that were not as morals based as those that follow

So "thou shalt not steal" was not an issue until people had property rights?

Not true. People had possessions from the begin. If land ownership is what you mean by property, they were owned by the rulers generally.

Roach,

Feel free to discuss religion were ever you want.

Until the a few hundred years ago, they were linked and religion control science, natural sciences, and what people had to believe.

So what property rights exist in tribal hunter gatherer society? Have you seen "The Gods Must be Crazy"?

[Super Nova]

So what property rights exist in tribal hunter gatherer society? Have you seen "The Gods Must be Crazy"?

That was the one with the coke bottle landing from a plane I nthe beginning.... is that the one?

No property rights existed in tribal hunter gatherer societies that I am aware. For initial farming cultures I believe the ruler probably owned it all.

Here is what happened in Egypt as way of example only.

As religious ruler, the pharaoh was the ultimate owner of land, which was controlled mainly by temples and state officials. But when the Romans conquered Egypt in 30 BC, agrarian property rights were at a turning point. Private landowners became politically dominant and demanded secure rights.1 The New Institutional Economics has developed two models to explain land privatization. According to the interest-group model, property rights are the product of political negotiation and therefore they tend to benefit whatever interest group holds power.2 Others use a demographic model of agrarian change. Communal institutions evolve in under-populated regions as an adaptation to environmental risk.3 Private property rights evolve as the population grows and land becomes more scarce.

Reference: A paper - Institutions: Economic, Political and Social Behavior 10th Annual Conference of the International Society of the NIE Boulder CO, September 21-24, 2006

[freediver]

So what possessions did they have?