the Dune books by Frank Herbert
This is a thought in process. Wanna ad yours?
k, i find it interesting, but i'm not sure if i can just add any thoughts i may have about monotheism, or if i should pick up where you left off.
so, i will just add my own thoughts.
I think that in terms of human progress, monotheism was the best development that could have come along at that time for humans. why, some of you who know my anti-monotheistic ways may ask, would i say this? well, it's not that monotheism is the "best" as in, the best of all solutions. in an ideal, omni-designed world, i can think of dozens of better advancement catalysts than monotheism. but, from an evolutionary perspective, it is the best as per how our brains are/were wired, combined with where we were technologically. monotheism did a lot of unification for ideologies that perhaps might have fallen by the way side. ideologies that may, in the mind of a modern human, be dead wrong, but it united people into large structured groups. the main purpose of monotheism, power to a few (who said it was for god) IMO, was intrinsically harmful. but the major & main side effect was an advancement in civilization where a society was united by an idea, rather than by a king or queen. Constantine the Great knew this concept, and used monotheism to strengthen his own power. people now wanted an ideology to worship, not just a king.
unfortunately, the main purpose of monotheism, the power of a single god over all (actually equals power to the church), is obviously a major factor with which modern society is still dealing. it is a meme that had evolved to survive. and survive it has. however, culturally, people are now at a point psychologically, where they can unite behind an idea, and get things done under one methodological umbrella.
if we can somehow do our part now, to ensure that this new ideology is methodological naturalism (science, rationality, knowledge, nature), then perhaps our species will be in a place to really go somewhere in the near future. a place, where the idea of human, humanism, is paramount to religion, and is fostering better lives for everyone. western, eastern and earth. a place where technologies that radically expand human potential, are rolled out with equal care, humanity, urgency and openness to everyone. when people start seeing science, and natural thinking process change the world (life span for example), people just might give up the old hang-on mono-god, in place for a new paradigm. a new idea. this is the sort of thinking that governments cannot control once it catches on. mullahs won't be able to stop it, and neither will neo-con fundys in America.
and that was my attempt to continue the conversation on monotheism. it may have been good for us at one point in the past, relatively. but the simple fact is that it's morally flawed. a product of social evolution. it's time to throw it down where it belongs. on the threshing floor of gods-long-dead.
incidentally, and ironically, the abrahamic faiths, christianity, judaism and islam, pose the largest obstacle to natural, rational thought methodology. and yet it was their religions that fostered the side-effect cultures, that gave us almost everything that we hold in value, technologically, today, including scientific method.
TS (of the john lennon - "you may say that i'm a dreamer" class) & (of the john lennon - "imagine no religion" class) LOL
