Jews, Christianity, Islam and others
Understanding interaction between Abrahamic religions and their view of pagan religions through the lens of power.
There are many ways to analyse religions, but religions have the ability to grant power over society. This power makes a great lens through which to view the creation of various religions, particularly the Abrahamic religions, as they are the most recent on the block.
The Abrahamic Religions emerged from the Levant, or lands including Egypt and Arabia, including present-day Israel and Lebanon. Egypt may be considered the economic centre of this area as it was a wealthy, thriving civilisation at the time. In this region, the legitimacy of power comes from God.
Egyptian pharaohs believed themselves to be divine beings and, consequently, rulers. This concept had become deeply ingrained, resulting in societal stagnation. The prosperity of the society hinged on the Pharaoh’s adherence to principles of justice and fairness. In essence, the future of the society rested upon the whims of the Pharaohs.
Moses sought to alleviate the stagnation by introducing a novel concept: individuals who adhere to God’s instructions are more deserving of authority than those solely relying on lineage but engaging in unjust behaviour. The rationale behind this notion was that God’s instructions would embody principles of justice and fairness. This concept posits that these principles transcend individuality, serving as a universal framework for ethical conduct.
Unfortunately, Moses opened a can of worms. Questions arose: (a) what were the exact words of God? (b) who decides what God actually said and what he meant & (c) what if the word of God is observed to be untrue?
The resulting answers led to the creation of a power structure involving a written document, clergy, and other faith-related organisations that also sought funding. Their power structure had evolved for many centuries, trying to shield the word of God and access to God within themselves. This was their source of power. This power structure is similar in all three religions. The thinkers of the time realised they had simply replaced a whimsical and malleable power structure with a rigid and sombre power structure.
Many interpreters came along to challenge the power structure. Not many succeeded. Some came close and were folded into the religion. Christians reverted back to the lineage concept to reinterpret the word of God. They got the son of God himself to clarify the issue. Christians refer to the same God as the Jews, but they refuse to name him. They focus on the Son of God.
Mohammad turned this around - back to prophethood and denied the lineage business. To square the circle, he claimed Jesus was a prophet of God. I haven't read anything that said Mohammad accepted Jesus as the son of God.
While all this was going on, they realised that in pagan groups, they have many Gods. This attacked the very foundation of power. With many Gods power could not be legitimised by one particular God, any God could legitimise power. This was a technical threat to their power structure. The easy way out was to call the pagans sub-humans and themselves the chosen people.
When these institutions encountered the Dharmic civilizations, they thought it was another attack on the foundations. Indic thought clarified that multiple Gods are manifestations of one God - i.e. the ultimate Truth -Dharma. Indic civilization believes that Dharma, i.e. a set of principles, is supreme. These ideas caught on in the West, where the first manifestations were in the Magna Carta, which limited the power of the King against his noblemen and generals.
But Indic thought went further. It claimed even divinity, and everything was bound by the principles of Dharma, which reigns supreme.
The power structure became alarmed at this proposition that principles are bigger than the deity itself. This was a significant and logical threat to the legitimacy of power. Therefore, they used the ruse of many Gods to deny the humanity of Hindus, grouping them with other pagan religions without deep roots.
With the Renaissance, the Abrahamic faiths faced another challenge. It appeared the word of God was not quite factually correct. The earth was not flat, and neither was it the centre of the universe. As scientific thought emerged, it shook the foundations of power with observable, defensible facts.
With the factual foundations of power weakened, the intelligentsia attacked the moral foundations of the Abrahamic edifice. The Abrahamic systems took the emphasis on stoicism rather far to the extreme by hanging the psychological sword of sin and eternal condemnation over the heads of the believers. Abrahamic thought taught that suffering in faith was the way to eternal happiness. It denied happiness as a legitimate goal of human existence.
Armed with a “scientific” mind, the thinkers challenged that stoicism. Some rather pushed for hedonism, thoughts liberated from the fear of sins. The new scientific fact and Renaissance morals started coalescing around the fundamental truth, probably the one Moses set out to extol, that principles are greater than personalities AND that human happiness is a legitimate goal of human existence.
The new behaviours were solemnized, first in the French Constitution, but more concretely in the United States Constitution, where the pursuit of happiness was recognized as one of the fundamental objectives of life.
Today, we have come full circle. We have reached a point where scientific facts have been relegated to the realm of religious interpretations, often carried out by individuals who wear white lab coats but lack the true spirit of scientific inquiry. Our judges merely enforce the word of the law, while their judgements and orders slay the spirit of Lady Justice. We have pushed our hedonism so far that it challenges the society itself.
The pendulum, as it always does, will swing back. I sincerely hope it doesn’t lead us back to the dark ages. Our responsibility is to preserve and build upon the accumulated knowledge of this world, creating something so magnificent that all the past struggles will have been worthwhile.