Gary Nunn asked: > A question that came up in a deep, late night conversation.... > > Was religion a necessary tool for building moral and ethical > standards in early civilizations or social groups? Or did > someone simply invent the fear of "Going To Hell" to impose > their will on the masses?
I might be the one who makes you regret asking this question. :) 'Tis theoretically a holiday, and I'm tryng to avoid thinking about the huge gaping hole a tractor left in my front garden yesterday, so I plan to babble. So, to answer your question, no, I don't think anything about religion was ever necessary per se. And yet it has always been a rather handy peg to hang the notions of necessity on. The religion I know the most about, the one I grew up with, has no notion of hell, or even of divine retribution [apparently you have to be exceedingly evil for the Powers That Be to bestir themselves to meddle - normal, mundane evil just isn't worth the bother]. In fact, the earliest and most basic of strictures [based on scriptual evidence] is that if you can't test it yourself, if you haven't experienced it yourself, then do not follow the words and claims of others. And yet, from that point to the one from where we have records, the practice of Sanatan Dharma had become a tale of oppression, in substantial part if not in whole. This would be the point to mention that we have no records, oral or written, of the growth of Sanatan Dharma, or Hinduism. Until the Harappan script is deciphered, all we can say with any degree of certainty is that the civilisation which started on the banks of the river Saraswati didn't seem to have any temples or palaces. Some 40% of the homes did have what look like private prayer corners - places with idols of Pashupati and the Mother Goddess, but nothing which indicated communal worship, or an overwhelming importance of religion. These people focused on stuff like covered drains, large granaries, water reservoirs, and public baths, well-planned cities linked by extensive canals, etc. Centuries later comes the mass exodus to the Gangetic plain and suddenly temples and palaces are everywhere. This is also the period where we start having records, Indian and Chinese, when Sankrit is the common language, Manusmriti has been written, and there are various internal movements for reformation, as well as the birth of new religions [Buddhism, Jainism] in response to the oppressive Brahmanic creed exemplified by Manu's dogma. > Gary -----> who suspects that he will regret asking this question. I tried. :) Ritu _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
