Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:20 pmI always assume religion everywhere is part of the prevailing ethnic culture of any society. The prevailing ethnic culture of the society in which religion"worked" was one that included rigid social class divisions. It was a culture that conserved the rural economy as it was. Charity was ethical as it made the lives of the working people sufficiently less bad that they remained contented with the status quo and got on with their work . Economic change and new forms of exploitation were to come with urbanisation, but for centuries rural economies and their cultures of belief worked well.
Well again: if maintaining economic disparity is your measure of success, then well done christianity.
Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:20 pmAlso, I think we need to remember that ancient ancestral violence was not committed by farmers and associated workers such as smiths but by aristocrats and their militias.
Or as I put it:
uwot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:38 pm...the reason the people who lived in the big house could afford to distribute charity was that they had acquired all the best resources by violence.
Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:20 pmThe rural economy sort of kept going throughout the warfare. Farmers want to plant , reap, and rear and so are attached to their land.
Here's how a typical member of the elite put it: “Why, of course, the people don’t want war,” Goering shrugged. “Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.”
-Herman Goëring
Greatest I am wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2020 10:17 pmOh well. At least the right wing fascist loony squad is shrinking.
If only that were true.
??
Women and gays not being given equal right in Europe is ongoing, depending on the country.
I'm not sure what point you are making:
Greatest I am wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:34 pmEven the Queen of England, the head of their church, cannot be a Bishop in her own church.
I don't care enough about the Church of England to know what the monarch's status is. For all I know, the head of the church is counted as a bishop. What I do know is that women bishops are not rare in the C of E. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... an_bishops
Greatest I am wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:34 pmFeminism has won, but the less astute people do not recognize that fact yet.
I think most feminists would argue that the issue is on going. If Trump wins, or at least keeps hold of power, it will be in no small part thanks to evangelical christians who believe it is their right to tell women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies.
Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:20 pmI always assume religion everywhere is part of the prevailing ethnic culture of any society. The prevailing ethnic culture of the society in which religion"worked" was one that included rigid social class divisions. It was a culture that conserved the rural economy as it was. Charity was ethical as it made the lives of the working people sufficiently less bad that they remained contented with the status quo and got on with their work . Economic change and new forms of exploitation were to come with urbanisation, but for centuries rural economies and their cultures of belief worked well.
Well again: if maintaining economic disparity is your measure of success, then well done christianity.
Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:20 pmAlso, I think we need to remember that ancient ancestral violence was not committed by farmers and associated workers such as smiths but by aristocrats and their militias.
Or as I put it:
uwot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:38 pm...the reason the people who lived in the big house could afford to distribute charity was that they had acquired all the best resources by violence.
Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:20 pmThe rural economy sort of kept going throughout the warfare. Farmers want to plant , reap, and rear and so are attached to their land.
Here's how a typical member of the elite put it: “Why, of course, the people don’t want war,” Goering shrugged. “Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.”
-Herman Goëring
There is no God-given measure of success. We have to create moral criteria on the hoof as it were. True, we have revered traditions and we have reason and feelings of ordinary human kindness.
the reason the people who lived in the big house could afford to distribute charity was that they had acquired all the best resources by violence.
It was ever so, and without sweat and tears to protect democracy it will always be so. That is what the American election is about , today. Democracy versus Dictator.
Goering was right. So that nobody is a poor slob who gets dragged along we need to protect democracy and the best possible means of educating everybody to get equality of opportunity, open government, and consequent social mobility.
