Chapter 12: The Law of Religion

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Okay, think about this for a second.

You've got like a crazy busy market in medieval Samarkand.

Yeah.

Merchants, warriors,

gold coins, just chaos, right?

Yeah, total sensory overload kind of thing.

Then picture pilgrims converging on Mecca, maybe 13th century, people from Turkey, Mali, India, all together.

Very different scenes on the surface.

Totally different.

But what if there's a common thread,

something unexpected linking them?

Okay, I'm listening.

Well, that's what we're diving into today, based on your sources, this unifying power of religion throughout history.

It's easy to see it as divisive now, maybe, but the sources argue it was crucial for large scale cooperation, right up there with like empires and money.

Exactly.

And key to that is how the sources define religion.

It's quite specific, isn't it?

It really is.

Not just any belief, it's a system of human norms and values, but based on a belief in a superhuman order.

Superhuman meaning, not just something humans cooked up.

Precisely.

Something seen as external binding, not like, say, football rules, you know.

We know humans made those up, could change them tomorrow.

Right.

So that superhuman part is crucial.

It establishes these binding norms.

Yeah.

And for it to unify lots of people across big areas, the sources say it needed two things.

Universality.

Meaning it applies to everyone, everywhere.

And a missionary impulse.

The drive to, you know, spread the word.

Because most ancient religions were local, weren't they?

Exclusive.

Very much so.

This emergence of universal missionary religions in the first millennium BC, that was revolutionary.

A massive shift.

Okay, let's break that down.

Your sources start way back, looking at the shift from animism.

What was animism like?

Well, animism, as it's described, was a worldview where human rules had to consider lots of other beings.

Not just people.

Like animals, plants?

Animals, plants, spirits in rocks or rivers.

Yeah.

The examples are great.

Like, don't cut down this fig tree in the Ganges Valley.

It has a spirit.

Or don't hunt white -tailed foxes over in the Indus Valley.

Very specific local rules.

Exactly.

Deeply tied to a particular place, a specific environment.

No need for someone in India to worry about a Ganges fig tree spirit, you know.

Makes sense for hunter -gatherers living in smaller groups, needing to navigate their immediate surroundings.

But then,

agriculture happens.

Right.

The agricultural revolution.

And that brought a huge religious shift, too, according to the sources.

How so?

What changed?

Well, think about the relationship.

Hunter -gatherers might have seen animals and plants as, maybe not equals, but beings you interact with, negotiate with, almost.

OK.

Respects, maybe?

Yeah, perhaps.

But farming.

That brings ownership.

Manipulation.

You're breeding animals.

Clearing forests.

That sense of equality or direct interaction kind of fades.

You go from being part of the system to trying to manage the system.

Pretty much.

But, and this is key, humans still couldn't control everything.

Rain, fertility, disease.

Still unpredictable.

Which leads to this theory about where gods came from.

Exactly.

The idea is, as plants and animals became property, they sort of lost their voice.

You couldn't negotiate with your wheat field directly anymore.

So you needed someone else to talk to.

Kind of.

Gods emerge as these intermediaries.

The god of rain, the goddess of fertility.

You appeal to them.

And mythology becomes like a contract.

The sources mention Genesis.

Yeah, like a legal contract.

Humans promise devotion sacrifices,

and the gods promise good harvests, healthy herds.

Sacrifices become central, giving something to get something.

Transactional relationship.

OK.

What about all those older animus spirits, the tree spirits, rock spirits?

The status kind of diminishes.

As societies get bigger, trade routes expand.

You need powers with broader influence, you know?

A local spring spirit isn't much help with a kingdom -wide drag.

Exactly.

You need bigger players.

Which paves the way for, well, polytheism.

Right.

Belief in multiple gods.

Define that based on the sources.

Simple enough.

Belief in many gods.

The worlds run by a pantheon, a collection of powerful deities.

Each with their own job, basically.

Yeah.

Fertility god, rain god, war god, sun god.

You name it.

And humans appeal to the specific god they need help from.

Through prayers.

Sacrifices.

Trying to get favor for a good harvest or winning a battle.

But those older animus bits, they didn't just vanish, did they?

No, that's interesting.

Demons, fairies, local spirits.

They stuck around.

Absolutely.

They often dealt with the more everyday stuff, personal problems.

Your average farmer might worry more about the local field spirit than the big deal god of war.

So like, big gods for state affairs, little spirits for daily life.

Kind of a two -tiered system, yeah.

But this whole shift to focusing on these powerful gods.

It really changed how humans saw themselves, didn't it?

How so?

Well, animism sort of put humans among many beings.

Polytheism increasingly puts humans center stage.

It's a drama between us and the gods.

How our actions affect the gods who affect the world.

Right.

Suddenly human actions determine the fate of the whole ecosystem in a way.

A flood isn't just a flood, it's the gods being angry about something we did.

It elevates humanity's cosmic importance.

That definitely pushes back against that old stereotype of polytheism being just childish idolatry.

Totally.

The sources really impact the logic behind it.

And what is that logic?

I haven't made sense.

A key point is that believing in many gods doesn't necessarily mean not believing in some ultimate supreme power behind it all.

Oh, interesting.

Like fate in Greek myths.

Exactly.

Or holodumare in Yoruba belief.

Or atman in Hinduism.

This fundamental reality power often exists in polytheistic thought.

But if there's one ultimate power, why bother with all the lesser gods?

Why not go straight to the top?

Because the logic goes, that ultimate power is probably completely uninterested in, you know, your specific problems, my promotion, your sick cow.

Too grand, too cosmic for that stuff.

Pretty much.

Too distant, too impartial.

So you deal with the lesser gods.

They do have specific interests.

The rain god cares about rain.

The love goddess cares about love.

They have biases, domains.

You can cut a deal with them.

That's the idea.

Offer devotion, get help in their specific area.

It allows for that transactional relationship.

The multitude of playards makes sense if the ultimate power is too remote.

And this explains why polytheistic cultures were often pretty tolerant, religiously speaking.

It really does.

If you accept one big power and lots of partial ones, someone else's god doesn't automatically contradict your whole system.

They might just be another manifestation or a local god you hadn't met.

So empires like Egypt or Rome, they didn't usually force conversion.

Generally, no.

They expected respect for their main gods, sure, the protectors of the empire.

But they often just added conquered people's gods to their own pantheon.

They were collectors, almost.

In a way, yeah.

Very open -minded, theologically speaking.

But then there's the big exception the sources highlight.

The Romans and the early Christians.

Why the intolerance there?

Well, that wasn't really about theology.

The Romans didn't mind new gods.

The problem was the Christian exclusivity.

Refusing to worship Roman gods.

What?

The emperor.

Exactly.

It was seen as political disloyalty, a refusal to participate in the state cults that were thought to guarantee the empire's safety.

It was sedition, not heresy in their eyes.

Still, the scale of persecution.

The sources say it was less than later Christian on Christian violence.

That's a striking point, yeah.

Polytheistic Romans killed far fewer Christians than Christians later killed each other over interpretations of, say, the nature of Christ or salvation.

Like the wars between Catholics and Protestants.

Horrific violence over doctrine, even though they worshiped the same god.

Right.

The St.

Bartholomew's Day massacre is a grim example.

Fights over who had the one true understanding.

Monotheism seems to carry that risk more intensely.

So how did that shift happen from polytheism to monotheism?

Often, it seems, it started with followers of one particular god becoming really devoted.

So devoted, they started seeing their patron god as the only real god, the supreme one.

Kind of elevating their favorite.

Sort of, but they often kept the idea that this supreme god still had specific interests, biases.

You could still negotiate, sacrifice like before.

Just focused all that energy on the one god now.

Were there early attempts that failed?

The sources mention Akhenaten in Egypt.

Yeah, Akhenaten tried to force the worship of just one god, Akhenen, the sun disc.

But it was too radical, too sudden.

It upset the priests, the traditions.

Didn't stick.

No.

After he died, the old gods came back pretty quickly.

It seems monotheism needed a different path to really take root.

Which brings us to local monotheism, with Judaism as the example.

How is that different?

Well, early Judaism centered on a supreme god, yes.

But one whose main interests seemed to be one specific nation, the Jews, and one specific land, Israel.

Powerful, but focused.

Not really trying to convert everyone else?

Not initially, no.

It wasn't inherently universal or missionary in its early form, a supreme god, but for a particular people.

The real breakthrough then was Christianity, transforming from this small Jewish sect.

That's how the source is from it.

The radical part was taking the Jewish god and making the message universal.

How?

What was the logic?

It hinged on Jesus.

The argument, pushed hard by people like Paul, was if God became human and died for the salvation of all humanity, not just Jews, then everyone needs to hear this good news.

That universal sacrifice demands a universal mission.

Exactly.

That logic fueled this intense drive to spread the message everywhere.

That was the game changer.

And then Islam follows a similar pattern a few centuries later.

One god, universal message, strong missionary push.

Yep.

Another incredibly successful monotheistic universal missionary religion that spread rapidly.

In this monotheistic mindset,

your sources argue it tends to be more, well, fanatical,

more exclusive.

It often leads that way, yeah.

If you believe you have the only complete truth from the only god, then other beliefs aren't just different, they're wrong, maybe dangerously wrong.

Less room for tolerance, more drive to eliminate competition.

Historically, that tendency has certainly been there, leading to violent suppression of other faiths.

By the 1500s, monotheism was dominant across most of Afro -Eurasia.

But did the old ways completely die out?

Did polytheism leave any traces within monotheism?

Oh, absolutely.

It's fascinating how polytheistic elements persisted, almost snuck back in.

How so?

Well, think about it.

For many people, one abstract, all -powerful god can feel a bit distant, hard to connect with for everyday problems.

Right, you want someone specific to pray to if you lose your keys?

Exactly.

So many monotheistic traditions developed or absorbed figures who fill that gap.

The Christian saints are the perfect example.

Patron saints for cities, jobs, illnesses.

Sounds a lot like the old god -specific domains.

It really does.

Saint Anthony for lost things, Saint Christopher for travel.

It mirrors the polytheistic setup, or think of Brigid in Ireland.

The Celtic goddess.

Yeah, she becomes Saint Brigid, keeping many of her old associations with healing, poetry, fire.

It's this blend, the syncretism.

Older needs met within the newer framework.

Okay, so monotheism rises but absorbs older elements.

Now, your sources also talk about dualism.

What's that about?

Dualistic religions are different again.

They believe in two fundamental opposing powers, usually a good one and an evil one.

Like God and the devil.

Kind of.

But in true dualism, the evil power is often seen as independent, almost as powerful as the good one.

The whole universe is a battlefield between them.

That sounds like a neat answer to the problem of evil, why bad things happen if God is good.

It is.

Dualism says, bad stuff happens because there's an independent evil force causing it.

Simple enough.

Monotheism has to do more theological gymnastics to explain evil.

But dualism has its own problem, right?

The problem of order.

Yeah, if you have two equal opposing forces constantly fighting, what stops total chaos?

Who sets the rules of the cosmic war?

It's harder for dualism to explain the underlying order of the universe.

Monotheism has God setting the rules.

Dualism, it's trickier.

Right.

What's the most important example of dualism?

Zoroastrianism is the big one mentioned.

Founded by Zoroaster.

Tell me about it.

It's this cosmic fight between the good God, Hura Mazda, and the evil spirit, Anger Menu.

And humans have to chew sides through their actions.

Right.

Hugely influential in Persia and beyond for a long time.

And even though pure dualism faded a bit, its ideas got absorbed elsewhere.

Definitely.

Concepts like a powerful devil or satan figure, the idea of a sharp split between a pure soul and a corrupt body, heaven and hell, a lot of that has strong dualistic roots, even within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

So again, this blending, this syncretism, monotheism picks up dualistic ideas,

polytheistic practices.

Exactly.

It ends up being this mix.

The sources call it the single great world religion, in a way, this blend of all these different elements.

Fascinating.

Okay, moving on again.

First millennium BC also sees the rise of something different.

Natural law religions.

How are these distinct?

The key differences, they don't primarily focus on gods or divine will.

Instead, they see the universe governed by impersonal natural laws.

Like physics, but for existence.

Sort of.

Examples are things like Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Stoicism.

Even if they include gods, the gods themselves are usually subject to these natural laws.

The laws are supreme, not the deities.

And Buddhism is the main example here.

Yeah, it's the most influential.

The central figure isn't a god, it's Siddhartha Gautama, a human who became the Buddha, the enlightened one.

And his big insight wasn't from God, but from his own experience.

Right.

He saw suffering everywhere and realized it wasn't divine punishment, it was caused by our own minds, specifically by craving, attachment, wanting things to be different than they are.

This cycle of wanting, getting briefly satisfied, then wanting more, leading to more suffering.

Exactly.

And he found a way out.

Stop the craving.

Accept reality as it is, through things like meditation, ethical living.

To reach nirvana, that state of liberation.

Precisely.

Nirvana is escaping that cycle of suffering.

And the core teaching, the dharma, is basically this natural law.

Suffering arises from craving, it's just how things are.

Not a commandment from a god, but a law of nature.

Yes.

Gods might exist in Buddhism, but they're kind of irrelevant to this core problem and its solution.

They're trapped in the same cycle too, potentially.

Didn't Buddhism eventually get more worship -like elements too, like monotheism -absorbed saints?

It did, yeah.

Same pattern.

While the goal might be self -liberation, most people also want help with everyday stuff, comfort, blessings.

So they started worshipping Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Exactly.

These enlightened beings who delay their own nirvana to help others.

Pantheons developed, prayers, rituals, seeking help, much like in theistic religions.

Human nature, perhaps.

This brings us towards the modern era, often called secular, right?

Age of reason, decline of religion.

That's the common narrative, yeah.

But the sources argue, maybe controversially, that the last 300 years haven't seen the decline of religion, but the rise of new natural law religions.

You mean ideologies, like liberalism, communism, capitalism?

Exactly.

If we use that broad definition, a system of norms and values based on belief in a superhuman order, natural or divine, then these ideologies fit perfectly.

They provide a framework for life,

values, based on laws seen as bigger than human whim.

Right.

Think about Soviet communism.

The sources draw really strong parallels.

How so?

Like a religion?

Yeah.

It had sacred texts, marks, angles, prophets, Lenin, rituals, May Day, clergy, party officials,

martyrs, holy wars against capitalism, even heresies, Trotskyism.

Wow.

When you put it like that.

It demanded faith, had a missionary zeal.

It functioned very much like a religion, even though it was atheistic.

That definition might make some people uneasy, calling communism or liberalism a religion.

It might, but it's consistent with the definition used.

It highlights that enduring need for a framework of meaning based on something perceived as objective, superhuman.

And these modern religions, these ideologies, they can mix too, right?

Some could be a nationalist, a capitalist, and a liberal humanist.

Absolutely.

Syncretism is alive and well, and belief in traditional gods often coexists within these frameworks too, especially liberalism.

Okay.

Last big category,

humanist religions, religions that worship humanity.

Essentially,

yes.

Humanism puts homo sapiens at the center.

Unique, sacred, superior to other beings.

Human good is the ultimate goal.

But there are different flavors of humanism.

Rival sex.

Three main ones are outlined.

Liberal humanism, socialist humanism, and evolutionary humanism.

Okay.

Liberal humanism first.

What's its core idea?

It focuses on the individual.

Humanity resides within each person.

So individual liberty, sacred.

The inner voice, conscience, is the source of authority.

Human rights are the commandments.

Pretty much.

That's why liberals object to things like torture.

It violates the sanctity of the individual.

The sources link it back to monotheistic ideas of the individual soul.

And socialist humanism, how's that different?

It sees humanity as the collective.

The key value isn't individual liberty, but equality among all humans.

Inequality is the great sin, the blasphemy.

Also drawing on monotheism, like equality before God.

Yeah, that heritage is there, but focused on social, collective equality rather than individual souls.

Okay.

Finally, evolutionary humanism, most notoriously, Nazism.

Yes.

This view sees humanity not as fixed or equal, but as a species that can evolve or degenerate, like animals under natural selection.

So the goal is to improve the species, promote the superior, weed out the inferior.

That was the horrific logic.

Believing the Aryan race was superior, others were degenerate or threats.

It led directly to racist ideology and genocide.

It's chilling.

And the sources note this wasn't entirely fringe thinking back then.

Disturbingly, no.

While totally discredited now, racial theories based on flawed science were more mainstream in the early 20th century.

Evolutionary humanists admired humanity's potential, but felt liberalism and socialism were weakening the species by protecting the unfit.

Life was seen as a ruthless struggle.

A truly dark path for worshiping humanity.

What's the outlook now?

Well, explicitly racist evolutionary humanism is taboo, but the sources hint at related ideas re -emerging, maybe through technology projects aiming to upgrade humans' bioengineering.

And there's that tension you mentioned earlier between liberal humanism's core beliefs, free will, a secret inner self, and what science is finding.

Exactly.

Life science has increasingly challenged the idea of a unified, indivisible self or truly free will.

Our biology, our brains, they shape us profoundly.

So can a liberal humanism survive if its foundations are questioned by science?

That's the huge question the sources leave us with.

How long can that gap between our cherished ideals and scientific findings persist?

What happens to our ethics or politics if our understanding of humanity itself changes radically?

Wow.

Okay, so just to wrap this up, we've covered a massive sweep of history through the lens of religion as a unifier, based on your sources.

Yeah, from animism's local spirits through polytheism's pantheons, monotheism's single god, dualism's cosmic battle, the natural law religions like Buddhism.

And into the modern era with these ideologies, these humanist faiths, worshiping humanity itself in different, often conflicting ways.

And remembering that broad definition, systems of norms and values based on a belief in some kind of superhuman order, divine or natural, it helps make sense of how these different systems function.

Right.

So a final thought for everyone listening, thinking about that broad definition.

How are these religions, theistic, natural law, humanists, still shaping our world, maybe in ways we don't always see?

And what happens next, especially with that growing tension between humanist ideals and what science tells us about ourselves?

What does that mean for cooperation, society, our future?

Lots to think about.

We've definitely hit the key ideas, the timelines, arguments, examples from the source material.

Looked at those big shifts, the author's main points and the implications.

Full coverage, start to finish.