Subject:
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Re: The god debate again... sigh (Re: Will Libertopia cause the needy to get less?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 29 Nov 2000 04:50:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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1002 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Bill Farkas writes:
> > > Nearly every major event in
> > > history can be linked to Judaism or Christianity in some way (nitpick caveat
> > > - I said "nearly").
> >
> >
> > Ummmmmmm, what are you defining as a "major event"? Greek major events
> > excluded? Roman? Chinese? Indian? Japanese? Egyptian? Sumerian?
> > Assyrian? Mayan? Viking? Scientific?
>
> Again, that's why I said "nearly". I was referring mainly to such things as
> the World Wars, the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Dark Ages, Israel's
> significance to everything Middle Eastern (both because of location and
> direct involvement), to the Inquisition, the discovery of the New
> World....things that had Global impact. Yet, as far as Greek and Romans are
> concerned, the link can be and has been made that the two civilizations set
> the stage for the coming of the Messiah, as the Egyptians did for the
> Exodus. Sumerian and Assyrian have direct Biblical relevance as well, and
> are all over the Old Testament. I don't think the Vikings had any
> significant role in any major global upheaval, did they? Yet as the fought
> across Europe in the 800's to the 1100's they did convert to Christianity
> (nyah nya nyah nya nyah nyah). I admit that I have neglected India, the Far
> East and the Mayans, but again, though they have made numerous valuable
> contributions to history at large, I don't think they affected any global
> world changing events like those mentioned above. As far as science, many
> scientific breakthroughs were made by Christians. Regardless, I said "nearly".
Alternate history is an obviously speculative exercise, but I don't see what
any of this (except the inquisition and crusades) has to do with
Judaeo-Christianity per se. Given that we can't really separate religion
from culture and history, how does any of the above depend on the actual
content and meaning of the Christian experience? I'm happy to grant a major
role to religious institutions (number one being the Catholic Church), but
wouldn't those structures have had the same impact no matter what version of
monotheism was preached?
Incidentally, I think 5000 years of Chinese civilisation influencing over
half the world's population is pretty historically significant and I'm not
sure how important "world changing events" are from a Buddhist perspective
that sees salvation in nothingness.
--DaveL
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