Interesting question, failed answer.
Linked via RCS, an analysis of Greek religion that leads the atheist author to conclude that religion is NOT hard-wired, because atheism was far more common then than now. Sounds interesting at first...

“Rather than making judgements based on scientific reason, these early atheists were making what seem to be universal objections about the paradoxical nature of religion – the fact that it asks you to accept things that aren’t intuitively there in your world. The fact that this was happening thousands of years ago suggests that forms of disbelief can exist in all cultures, and probably always have.”

Not automatically wrong, but two clear flaws:

(1) The Greek system of polytheism was strictly for and by the elites. It had no definite moral rules because elites can't stand moral rules.

Atheists are shaped by the form of the specific religion they rebel against. In modern times, a Catholic atheist and a Mormon atheist are somewhat different types. A Greek intellectual who was born with a taste for proper morality and logic would dislike the Soap Opera Of The Gods. So the a-Zeus-ist would be the opposite of the a-Jehovah-ist in terms of innate tendencies and needs.

(2) We have no idea what the helots and slaves believed because they weren't doing the writing. They didn't have leisure to discuss abstractions all day because they were growing the food and hauling the water and scrubbing the bodies of the abstractors and writers. In modern times the helots and slaves are the main carriers of true religion. I'd bet the Greek helots had a simpler and more direct set of beliefs, though that's an untestable bet.

Mosaic monotheism fixed both of these problems. The rules of Leviticus apply consistently and EXPERIMENTALLY to daily life. You can see for yourself what happens when you disobey. You don't need to wait for the afterlife. And monotheism, though partly written by elites, was shaped for and by the helots and slaves.

In modern times, consider Antichrist Francine's whirlwind elite confusion, belatedly but properly moral in a few areas, keeping up with the Kardashians in most areas. Poor people need an unconfused leader. The Kardashians and Jenners don't need a leader to help them compete with poor old Satan.

And then consider this.

Nuff said.

Labels: Grand Blueprint, Natural law = Sharia law

  ¶ 5:15 PM