What basis are you guys using that Christianity was a beneficial force throughout history? Just curious, because a lot of this just seems to be conjecture and speculation.
Quote from: Endork on October 22, 2015, 09:13:11 AMIt would also be pretty different because we wouldn't have had the crusades.Maybe we wouldn't have left the dark ages until a lot later.Maybe the dark ages never started then.Dark Ages were because of the fall of Rome, not Christianity (primarily, in any case).
It would also be pretty different because we wouldn't have had the crusades.Maybe we wouldn't have left the dark ages until a lot later.Maybe the dark ages never started then.
Probably we'd be praying to the Roman pantheon. It was Constatine's conversion to Christianity that spread the religion, not anything inherent in Christianity. So, if he hadn't, then the original Roman religion would be the predominant one. The driving factor was Rome.
Quote from: Luciana on October 22, 2015, 03:03:26 AMLike everyone saidmore barbaric, less advanced, etc etcPeople's lives back in the early days were MUCH harder too, so having that greater power/faith and thinking life would be better when you died, probably carried a lot of them forward. Especially during the Dark Ages.>he thinks the dark ages were darkSpoiler
Like everyone saidmore barbaric, less advanced, etc etcPeople's lives back in the early days were MUCH harder too, so having that greater power/faith and thinking life would be better when you died, probably carried a lot of them forward. Especially during the Dark Ages.
It would be a lot more barbaric and not nearly as technologically advanced. While I don't need religion to justify acting like a good person or having a reason to live, a lot of people (especially in the early ages of humanity) can't say the same thing. Christianity definitely propelled us forward in a lot of ways.
Quote from: The Ghost That Never Lies on October 22, 2015, 01:04:03 AMIt would be a lot more barbaric and not nearly as technologically advanced. While I don't need religion to justify acting like a good person or having a reason to live, a lot of people (especially in the early ages of humanity) can't say the same thing. Christianity definitely propelled us forward in a lot of ways.Well that's just stupid
Quote from: Cindo on October 22, 2015, 05:25:48 PMQuote from: The Ghost That Never Lies on October 22, 2015, 01:04:03 AMIt would be a lot more barbaric and not nearly as technologically advanced. While I don't need religion to justify acting like a good person or having a reason to live, a lot of people (especially in the early ages of humanity) can't say the same thing. Christianity definitely propelled us forward in a lot of ways.Well that's just stupidIt's actually very accurate. I'm an atheist too, but it's dumb to not recognize the benefits that organized religion has brought to mankind.
I don't see how it would have been much different, really. Things like art and culture might look different, but I don't think we'd be any more or less advanced socially or technologically, at least not by a great deal.
We would all be towel heads.
Quote from: BlackEye on October 25, 2015, 12:02:02 AMWe would all be towel heads.No we wouldn't because Islam wouldn't existjfc
Quote from: Prime Megaten on October 22, 2015, 11:40:26 AMQuote from: Endork on October 22, 2015, 09:13:11 AMIt would also be pretty different because we wouldn't have had the crusades.Maybe we wouldn't have left the dark ages until a lot later.Maybe the dark ages never started then.Dark Ages were because of the fall of Rome, not Christianity (primarily, in any case).And because of the fall of Alexandria The Alexandria library actually had blueprints for steam engines and probably had prototypes.
Quote from: Luciana on October 25, 2015, 03:34:07 AMQuote from: Cindo on October 25, 2015, 01:21:42 AMQuote from: BlackEye on October 25, 2015, 12:02:02 AMWe would all be towel heads.No we wouldn't because Islam wouldn't existjfcPretty much.Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all go hand in hand. As she has said before, Zoroastrianism would probably still be huge.Islam not so much.Christianity and Judaism did have some influence over Mohammed, yes, but Islam is closer to Zoroastrianism than those religions in that it is a monotheistic religion based on revised polytheistic beliefs.Pre-Islamic Arabs were largely pagan, but (according to Islamic sources, which are sadly the only sources we really have) had a concept of a "greater god" that ruled distantly over all others, a central supreme being. Mohammad didn't convert the Arabs to worship a new god so much as he centered focus on the core deity and suppressed worship of peripherals.This, again, is all from Islamic sources, which may or may not affect its credibility.Islam could reasonably exist independantly of Christianity and Judaism, but probably in a somewhat different form.
Quote from: Cindo on October 25, 2015, 01:21:42 AMQuote from: BlackEye on October 25, 2015, 12:02:02 AMWe would all be towel heads.No we wouldn't because Islam wouldn't existjfcPretty much.Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all go hand in hand. As she has said before, Zoroastrianism would probably still be huge.