Theophrastus
There is a grave disparity between Christianity on paper and the real thing. A study of the historical seats of power for Christians makes clear that it has a primary use, as every other religion, as a socio-political control tool.
In the bronze and iron age it was used to keep tribes loyal and convinced of their rightness, should the time for combat arise (and it always did.) Here Yaweh is the righteous and vengeful defender of his people.
In the post-Roman era it was used to give people a sense of identity and community when the first world power collapsed (note this is when most current religions were born - coincidence?). This was the first time we see the image of Yaweh as a uniter and a father being used to promote the religion in the face of its stiff competition.
In the dark ages, when populations were exploding and national cultures were coming into conflict it was used to vilify outsiders. This time of xenophobia was host to such delightful events as the last destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the Crusades (all three of 'em!) and the Ottoman reprisals. As populations outgrew tribe size, religion was also useful as an oppressive tool to scare the populace into loyalty - hence the popularity of the grim and wrathful God of Christianity who condoned inquisitions and burnings.
And when there were just too many people to oppress the Enlightenment began and the church had to regroup. It took a couple of centuries to find its new strategy, and was kept rolling by its momentum, but ultimately had to change Yaweh into a loving God, because people were too smart to be intimidated by him any more. Curious that at this time more advances were made in philosophy and major medical science than ever before.
That brings us to the 1900s where Nationalism and religion mated again, spawning the replacement of God with Jesus as a face for Christianity, stories of love and sacrifice being blended with fanatical xenophobia (world wars, anyone?) to create the Evangelical movement, where Yaweh came to die for your sins in an act of total love, so you'd better convert or he'll ******** you up!
What a foul manipulation of humanity. I long for the day religion dies unmourned.
In the bronze and iron age it was used to keep tribes loyal and convinced of their rightness, should the time for combat arise (and it always did.) Here Yaweh is the righteous and vengeful defender of his people.
In the post-Roman era it was used to give people a sense of identity and community when the first world power collapsed (note this is when most current religions were born - coincidence?). This was the first time we see the image of Yaweh as a uniter and a father being used to promote the religion in the face of its stiff competition.
In the dark ages, when populations were exploding and national cultures were coming into conflict it was used to vilify outsiders. This time of xenophobia was host to such delightful events as the last destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the Crusades (all three of 'em!) and the Ottoman reprisals. As populations outgrew tribe size, religion was also useful as an oppressive tool to scare the populace into loyalty - hence the popularity of the grim and wrathful God of Christianity who condoned inquisitions and burnings.
And when there were just too many people to oppress the Enlightenment began and the church had to regroup. It took a couple of centuries to find its new strategy, and was kept rolling by its momentum, but ultimately had to change Yaweh into a loving God, because people were too smart to be intimidated by him any more. Curious that at this time more advances were made in philosophy and major medical science than ever before.
That brings us to the 1900s where Nationalism and religion mated again, spawning the replacement of God with Jesus as a face for Christianity, stories of love and sacrifice being blended with fanatical xenophobia (world wars, anyone?) to create the Evangelical movement, where Yaweh came to die for your sins in an act of total love, so you'd better convert or he'll ******** you up!
What a foul manipulation of humanity. I long for the day religion dies unmourned.
