The Socio-Political History of Organized Religion, Part II

Executive Papers, Guest Post Comments (1)

Guest Essay by B.R.

“Fear is the mother of all gods.” – Lucretius

Sure, it started out harmless enough. Simple stories to explain away the things they encountered in their daily lives, nothing more than that. However, that would not last long. The simple stories would evolve and impact their daily lives, e.g. if the hunt went poorly it was because the tribe had lost the favor of a particular entity. This would lead to the inevitable next step, the introduction of the holy man, witch doctor, wise man, priest, etc… the gods’ chosen. After all, someone has to commune with these great and powerful entities to ensure that the tribe has their favor and not their displeasure.

There should be no doubt that fear of these newly birthed and unknown gods was used as a tool by those earliest of holy men to maintain a position of power, wealth (measured however it may have been), and influence among their people. It would have been no different from telling a child if he’s bad Santa won’t bring him anything for Christmas. Except in this case you’re telling an entire tribe of people that if they don’t offer up the best bits of the kill to the tribal leaders… er, rather, the gods, that the rains will stop, the crops will wither and die, the animals will disappear, and the women will be carried off by a stronger tribe (and it certainly would not have gone unspoken that that tribe would be one favored by the gods), leaving the men to find their way across the unknown wilderness with no real hope of survival.

Back in those days the gods had a tendency to be petty like that when it suited their needs.

So what role, if any, did faith play in the beginnings of religion? There is, in my mind, no clear answer to this particular question. The world and the people in it were both much simpler in those times. At first there would be little cause for them to have faith in the gods but many reasons for them to be feared. In time, through the efforts of the holy men, the people’s faith and belief would grow. The combination of these two powerful forces would serve to strengthen the worship of the gods which would in turn give more power to the holy men that claimed to serve the gods.

This is a trend that would continue as mankind evolved, gave birth to civilization, and in time conquered empires. As mankind evolved, so too did the religion. Worship would become a part of daily life, with every family having a shrine to the gods in their dwelling. Thousands upon thousands would give their lives in the construction of grand temples. Countless more would die in battle as they sought to defeat this or that heathen neighbor. Those that ruled would claim to be chosen by the gods, born of the gods, or even the gods given mortal form.

Religion and rule would become one.

Typically, those that do not have power want it and those that have it do not want to lose it.

There was a time when those that did not have power and wanted it simply challenged the guy that had the power. If they turned out to be the superior man they would assume the mantle of power but if they proved to be the inferior then they most likely found themselves quite dead. Then along came religion and the people in power saw in it a golden opportunity to secure themselves in the positions they had claimed. For if they were chosen of the gods, or a god themselves, why would anyone try to usurp that power? Would not the gods smite them for such an act? The ancient rulers were quick to adopt the concept of religion and used it to great effect to unify their people and protect their titles and their power. In doing so they laid the groundwork for what has become thousands of years of religion being used as a socio-political tool.

Religion had grown beyond a few gods whose existence explained away the mysteries of the world. Cultures now had whole pantheons of deities with genealogies, creation stories, good and evil, an afterlife, etc. Every major god had their own temples, priests, rites, holy days, and so forth. And the people worshiped their gods, observed the rites and holy days, and listened to the priests because that was, quite simply, the way of things.

In the worship of the gods the holy men had found a way to both bring their people together through faith in the gods and to control them through fear of those same gods. What more could a king, emperor, or pharaoh ask for than a unified and controlled populace? Is it really any wonder why religion and government found themselves in bed together in these ancient times?

Let us pretend that you have emerged as the leader of your people. Whether it was through strength of mind, body, or both is unimportant. What matters is that you lead and you intend to pass the power of rule onto your son and your son’s son and so forth. But times have been harsh and the people now speak against you. What do you do? ‘Encourage’ the priests to find some sign or prophecy proclaiming you and yours to be the chosen of the gods, destined to lead their people to greatness in the name of those gods.

Imagine that you have just conquered a neighboring people and need to reinforce your right to rule. What do you do? Invoke the Mandate of Heaven, proclaim yourself the Son of Heaven, and claim that the previous rulers had lost the Mandate, thus placing their fall and your rise squarely upon the shoulders of the Celestial Heavens. And as any good citizen knows, the Celestial Heavens are, as a matter of course, never wrong.

Or perhaps your civilization developed in the middle of a desert, a lone river the only viable source of life. On three of your four borders you face hostile civilizations. The unknown and dangerous vastness of the sea lies on your fourth front. First, your priests initiate cults of worship around your rule while you focus your entire civilization on the construction of great temples and monuments that honor not only the gods but yourself. After a couple of hundred years of this you’re claiming to be the son of the sun god made manifest in mortal flesh. Along with this comes all manner of rites and ceremonies that must be performed to both justify and validate your deification and unite your people in the belief of said deification. And ultimately you go so far as to say that the sun god himself came to your mother and impregnated her with his seed, but not until you are quite secure in your power and just want to get down to the dirty business of ruling without all the headache of rite and ceremony.

Three different scenarios from three different regions of the world, but a single theme: the reinforcement of political/ruling power through religion and mythology.

Time and again throughout history we see evidence of this theme. Greek rulers claimed to be descended from great mythic heroes. Julius Caesar claimed to be a direct descendant of Venus. Japanese emperors claimed descent from Amaterasu. Charlemagne forged a Christian Empire out of Western Europe after being granted the title Patricius Romanus by the Pope, a title his father had held before him. The concept of the Divine Right of Kings was birthed during the dark days of Medieval Europe and kings for generations to come would suckle at its great teat to secure both their rule and their life. Napoleon sought to control the Catholic Church for his own ends and is attributed with the statement that “a society without religion is like a ship without a compass; there is no good morality without religion.” Hitler believed very strongly in both the Christian God and the teachings of the Bible and believed his actions to be in accordance with God’s Will. The Ayatollah Khomeini instituted an Islamic Republic in Iran and created the position of Supreme Leader, a position that can only be filled by a high-ranking cleric of the faith. The United States pledge of allegiance contains the phrase ‘…one nation under God…’, the currency bears the phrase ‘In God we trust’, and the leader of the country is sworn into office using a Bible (with the singular exception of Theodore Roosevelt).

Personal conjecture and history lessons aside, this article does have a point, several in fact.

During a speech on January 16, 2006 the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, stated that “”God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country….Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves.”

For thousands of years leaders, both spiritual and political, across the globe have used statements akin to the one made by Mr. Nagin to manipulate those that they lead. I honestly do not know which is worse, that these leaders of man resort to such measures or that the masses of humanity so readily accept them without a second thought. The entire situation is absolutely deplorable. Unfortunately we, the people of the world, have allowed it to continue for so long that it has become an everyday part of the Global Establishment.

What it is, in my opinion, is the most beautiful scam ever devised. A scam designed to prey upon the devout. They tell you to do as they say or else you will be considered a sinner and go to Hell, the underworld, etc. And we all know that’s a bad place to go. It’s hot, dirty, and you’ll spend a very long time being punished for having been a bad person while alive. You wouldn’t want that would you? Of course not. So you do as your told, even if it goes against everything you’ve been told to be right and good. Fear is the hook, salvation is the bait, and the folks with all the power are tugging on the line.

-B.R.

(Part 1, Part 3)

Pieces And Parts @ March 22, 2008