Re: Constructed Religions

Hawksinger wrote:
> Further the lack of religious wars
> ought to greatly add to progress as well although they might substitute
> other kinds of wars just as we have.
Quite probable.  Indeed, there might even be more wars, since many
religions on Earth promote peace, however ineffectual.  Indeed, most
"religious" wars are actually a war about differing cultures, religion
being the most obvious difference.  For instance, the Inquisition was
really about the Spanish monarchy consolidating its power, and there's
no better way of getting power than finding a scapegoat to persecute,
one who's very much different, and different religious beliefs are one
of the most obvious differences.  Perhaps a non-religious species might
fight over the best way to crack an egg.  :-)  In deed, without
religion, perhaps they might just cling to philosophies or governmental
systems that much more strongly, think of the Cold War, the epic battle
between Communism and Capitalism, religion didn't play into it, except
in so far as they spoke of "Godless Commies".

> Finally, those beautiful temples
> and a large organized clergy tend to bleed off a lot of resources (of
> course the amount varies from culture to culture) that might be used
> for other purposes.
No more so, IMO, than a large organized aristocracy with large beautiful
palaces and castles.