Why Do Big Countries Often Have Big Gods
Societies and countries that continue for long periods of time without falling apart need something the majority have in common. That is, they need people who voluntarily conform to laws and standards because they have bought into a notion of what is called "the common good."
Some societies/countries, i.e. billions of people, do this without religion. But, it has been common over recorded history to do it through some kind of religion. The four or five major world religions hold onto a large majority of the world's population.
The link presents the theory, one I hold as well, that big religions came into prominence about 10,000 years ago. They came in because that was about the time the economics of humans changed. Before then, humans apparently wondered about in relatively small groups finding food and shelter. If there were ideas about religion back then, they could have been different for each clan or tribe because each was independent of others.
About 10,000 years ago humans found they were better off staying in one place raising food and, for some, domesticating animals. They began to specialize in one activity and trade with those in another. To make this work there needed to be larger societies/countries. This meant some version of the common good needed to be shared by many more people.
The successful religions for large agrarian populations that came out of that time, about 10,000 years ago, were ones with "big gods." These were gods with all manner of power and supernatural attributes. Here came Hinduism and Judaism plus a few others. Smaller gods stuck with smaller populations.
Agrarian societies needed larger populations. Larger populations needed bigger gods for a common good to prevail.
If you ever wondered, "Where did my religion come from?" there you have it.
Comments
Post a Comment