Re: OT More pens (was Re: Phoneme winnowing continues)

Someone said:
> If you mean that he existed, preached, claimed to be the son of God, got
> executed for it, and some people claim he rose again, sure, can't dispute
> that.
Sure you can. :)  His existence can be disputed, though I personally
don't believe it was fabricated; he probably existed.  As to what
he said or claimed to be, we have only the word of his followers, who were
writing long after the fact and had ulterior motives.  Dispute away. :)

Stone Gordensen replied:
> Even I would agree to this purely historical perspective were equal unbiased
> time and fervor given to all other religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
ALL other religions?  Even Zoroastrianism?  What about the Cult of the
Giant Sheep in the Sky? :)

That's impractical.  In history you learn about the things that made
a difference historically, not everything that happened anywhere
ever.  We don't spend as much time on the KKK as on the Nazis,
because the Nazis had a bigger impact on the world.  Similarly,
no religion in the world has had as much influence on current
geopolitical reality as Christianity.  The place under the world's
microscope right now - the Middle East - is the way it is largely
because of Christian sympathy for its ancestor religion Judaism -
and admittedly modern development, that - and hostility towards its
descendant Islam.  At the present time the greater tension is, of
course, directly between Judaism and Islam, but it's motivated more
by geography than religion.

For all its billions of adherents, Buddhism hasn't had as much of
an impact.  Neither has Hinduism.  Still, they merit discussion
along with the Big Three Monotheisms because they're so widespread.
But coverage of every religion out there doesn't really belong in
a general history course.

Now, a survey of religions course is another matter entirely.  I took
one of those in my taxpayer-funded U.S. government high school, and
learned quite a bit about other faiths - including Zoroastrianism,
in fact.  (But not, sadly, the Cult of the Giant Sheep in the Sky -
everything I know about that I learned by watching "Andy Richter
Controls the Universe").  Such courses are perfectly appropriate
as electives - heck, make 'em mandatory if you want.  But the
material doesn't really fit in a general history class.

-Mark

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