Problem with Christianity

[Papewaio]

Look at it this way, the countries that are more religious tend to have less democracy.

The countries that indulge in adsolute answers rather then exploring the unknown are less likely to be democracies.

Religion has been used for centuries to prop up generations of despots err Kings.

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The roots of modern democracy can be traced to the Black Plague, printing press and weakening of the Church. People started to question and be better informed to do so... they become the basis of a democracy.

[Adrian II]

The roots of modern democracy can be traced to the Black Plague, printing press and weakening of the Church. People started to question and be better informed to do so... they become the basis of a democracy.

Do you really think that 'people' only started 'questioning' after the Black Plague and that democacy has its roots in Late Medieval Europe? Amazing. I think that its roots go back much farther. And I think that questioning (received) notions about man, society and the universe is an even older urge, as old as mankind to be precise.

[Papewaio]

Do you really think that 'people' only started 'questioning' after the Black Plague and that democacy has its roots in Late Medieval Europe? Amazing. I think that its roots go back much farther. And I think that questioning (received) notions about man, society and the universe is an even older urge, as old as mankind to be precise.

keyword: modern

[Papewaio]

Do you really think that 'people' only started 'questioning' after the Black Plague and that democacy has its roots in Late Medieval Europe? Amazing. I think that its roots go back much farther. And I think that questioning (received) notions about man, society and the universe is an even older urge, as old as mankind to be precise.

I'm talking about the the modern roots of democracy, much like the modern olympics it is an old idea that has come about again given the right conditions.

Black Plague showed that being a good Christian did not stop you getting killed indiscriminately. That the Church actually did not have any earthly power. People started to look for answers elsewhere.

Add to that the spread of ideas and information increasing with the printing press. That the Church was no longer the sole holder of information and that others had access to information and started to form opinions on what they read.

Democracy needs informed citizens who ask questions and do not act as automatons. The citizens need to ask Why? They need enough information and understanding to make informed choices when voting.

What the printing press allowed was a flourishing of ideas and the rate of exchange of ideas multiplied. Having a weaker church allowed decentralization of authority and the ability of non-absolute answers to spread.

As new ideas became to flourish, so did the discovery of old ones. Modern democracy had all the right conditions to flourish as it had fertile ground to use. The people found the ideas of old and spread them, it was a lot harder for the Church to contain people when those people had a broader knowledge and the training of logic, reasoning, questioning.

So the modern proto democracy can be looked at like the rest of the Renaissance, an idea thats time had come about again.

Most despots do not function very well with an educated middle class. As such they are some of the first to be either brought to the side of the despot or wiped out. China's cultural revolution, the rise of the soviets, the rise of the Nazis (black shirts in particular) etc.

An unquestioning absolute faith in a we are right monoculture does not a safe democracy make.