"Humankind is also aware that atheism was never, as christianity was, a rallying call for any crusade, genocide, war or battle."
There have been fascist religious empires in Americas and SE Asia. And Russia-east Europe and China, Vietnam etc have just completed their atheist ideologies of Scientific god-chairmen. A few commos fired in anger , some tortured, starved and lied occasionally and said rude things to religious citizens. But they were devoted to human well-being because their books say so.

Ambiguity. I meant the Aztec, Inca and Hindu SE Asian fascist religious systems.

Dear david f,

The statement

>>A society which has lost its religion becomes sooner or later a society which has lost its culture.<<

is compatible with the statement (I agree with both)

>Christianity not only was intolerant toward other religions but destroyed classical culture and brought on the Dark Ages (with its own culture - added by me).<<

I namely assume that Selick (and you?) used the term “culture” in its anthropological meaning - the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society - rather than normative - in the sense that if you have no culture you are barbaric, “uncivilised”. (For instance, in Russian culture in the first meanings is kul’tura in the second kul’turnost’).

Europe is loosing its Christian religion, hence also the culture associated with its Christendom (in its both pre- and post-Enlightenment) stages, which does not imply that it is loosing culture as such, becoming something like barbaric. (And, of course, there is a third meaning of cultures as civilisations, which I don't think either of you had in mind.)

>>The greatest anti-cultural force in European history was Christianity.<<

Here you apparently use “culture, cultural” in the second, normative meaning of the word. Of course, there were times when it was Christians who regarded other religions, or no-religion, “anti-cultural”.

.

Greek, Norse and Christian mythologies have been largely incorporated into every aspect of Western civilisation. None of this will be lost as long as mankind exists.

Whether any, some or all of these narratives are true or not is of no importance.

That some of us place our faith in them, for whatever reason, is a personal matter. We are free to do so.

It is that freedom that we must cherish, preserve and defend. Without it, life is not worth living :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEVow6kr5nI

.

Hi Nick,

I'm puzzled over your depiction of "Hindu SE Asian fascist religious systems".

South-East Asia: do you mean ancient Angkor or any of the various trading kingdoms across what is now Thailand or Burma or Indonesia or central Vietnam ? The people who built the Hindu temples in the Philippines, or the one in Canton, and traded with Korea and Japan ?

How far back are you going, one or two thousand years ?

In what way were they fascist ?

Cheers,

Joe

A few years back , Communists , Aboriginals and Catholics were in effect barred from public life ( although Aboriginals tolerated both Catholics and Communists). No-one else seemed to worry about this.