01-05-2008, 12:00 AM
I have mused over your statement re: farming and atheism, or just having no need for Spirituality once there is a steady source of food, and I just don't agree.
If your conjecture were correct then we would all be atheists for at least the last 3,500 years. There is absolutely no evidence suggesting 'farming' leads to loss of spirituality. On the contrary, the level of spirituality had developed into increasing sophistication with the advent of agriculture.
The degree in which this is obvious is evidenced by the historical civilizations from thousands of years ago. Ancient Egypt, India, China, Mayan all grew in Spiritual sophistication as they advanced in their agricultural mastery. If anything, the aboriginal hunter gatherers remained spiritual but rather basic in their level of spiritual complexity.
There is not one society or historical group that wasn't associated with a religious practice until modern times and that would be the forced NON-belief by Communists led societies, such as USSR and China. And if one were to dig a little deeper into which group was behind Communism they would discover a common group of people who adhere to an ancient Babylonian doctrine as as written in the Talmud. These adherents find all religion a threat to their goal of subjugation.
So, I wholeheartedly disagree with your proposition.
If your conjecture were correct then we would all be atheists for at least the last 3,500 years. There is absolutely no evidence suggesting 'farming' leads to loss of spirituality. On the contrary, the level of spirituality had developed into increasing sophistication with the advent of agriculture.
The degree in which this is obvious is evidenced by the historical civilizations from thousands of years ago. Ancient Egypt, India, China, Mayan all grew in Spiritual sophistication as they advanced in their agricultural mastery. If anything, the aboriginal hunter gatherers remained spiritual but rather basic in their level of spiritual complexity.
There is not one society or historical group that wasn't associated with a religious practice until modern times and that would be the forced NON-belief by Communists led societies, such as USSR and China. And if one were to dig a little deeper into which group was behind Communism they would discover a common group of people who adhere to an ancient Babylonian doctrine as as written in the Talmud. These adherents find all religion a threat to their goal of subjugation.
So, I wholeheartedly disagree with your proposition.