Fwd: Jesus Christ!

[Guest guest]

GuruRatings , " Tony OClery " <aoclery wrote:

 

GuruRatings , Sarlo <sarlo@> wrote:

>

> On 8/7/07, Arvind wrote:

>

> >According to my friend's father, the reason USA made so much

> >progress was because of being founded and led by people with great

> >Christian principles. Reason Europe made so much progress was

> >because of Christian foundations. So many great thinkers,

> >philosophers, painters, artists, scientists in both USA and Europe

> >came from strong Judio-Christian background. According to him,

> >decline in Christian values and principle is the prime reason

behind

> >the recent decline of Europe.

>

> At best, Xianity can be said to have been at the root of

Western " success "

> because it interfered LESS in social and technological progress

than the

> other religions. It is more accurate to say that people like

Galileo

> succeeded IN SPITE of Xianity, and women came to have more rights

here than

> other cultures IN SPITE of that repressive religion. Not to mention

that

> vast chunks of knowledge such as al-gebra were imported from Islam

culture.

>

> To CREDIT Xianity with " progress " in the west looks like a big

mistake.

>

> >I tend to find some value in the

> >social 'progress via religion' argument.

> >To me, it is not so much about the

> >particulars of a religion, but, more

> >about the ability of religion to bring

> >people together, to make agree on and

> >adhere to some common principles and in

> >getting them to help each other and

> >work together. I think all Judaism

> >based religions including Judaism,

> >Christianity and Islam excel in

> >bringing believers together.

>

> Bringing them together in a nice great herd. Mbaaaaaahh!

>

> >In one way, I consider Christianity [and other

> >similar religion] an immensely successful

> >political [and in some cases military] organization.

> >

> >That is where they differ widely from

> >most eastern religions. While a Hindu

> >can [and, in fact is encouraged] to pray

> >alone at home; I think a Christian and Muslim

> >is always asked and encouraged to go to a common

> >place [church or mosque] at a common time.

> >This is what bows the seed of organization, of

> >common belief, common goal and of belonging

> >together and it gives great advantage in building

> >an army, an empire, a nation or in any collective

> >social movement. Christian [and Muslim] pioneers

> >certainly proved to visionary in that regard.

>

> Osho fwiw says the west became technologically superior because

Xianity

> emphasized a one-lifetime theology. Reincarnation means you can be

lazy and

> not strive hard for all that is possible in this one apparent life.

>

> But the west has been spiritually poor, producing no one of the

caliber of

> Ramana, Buddha, Krishnamurti, Lao Tzu, concentrating rather on the

outside

> world. The east became materially poor, emphasizing only the

spiritual

> aspect of life, even promoting a great philosophy of renunciation.

Guess

> what? Renunciation = poverty, little science, etc.

>

> Finally, look what our great success in the west is producing.The

> Xian-spawned economic system of capitalism: let the greediest,

those who

> try the hardest (and unfairest) " win, " and never mind the

consequences to

> the planet. Some " leaders " even say wrecking the planet is okay

since we

> can just migrate to Mars. This is beyond stupid, but pftc (par for

the

> course) Xianity. The other version is let's wreck it cause God said

we

> could (Dominion) and anyway we will just get raptured up to Heaven.

This is

> religion.

>

> Sarlo

 

Namaste Sarlo,

 

I think the biggest kick into 'modern' technology came from the

Reformation, where freedom to think other than the official Christian

line was espoused. Couple this with the 'Protestant Work Ethic' and

you have a driven society looking at this life and not just

the 'next'. Salvation by works instead of faith alone.

 

Also much technology in the West harked back to Roman Engineering and

with the rise of the Moors in Spain etc, the rise of mathematics. As

with all the maths and zero etc. the Arabs inherited it from India

were there were remnants of prehistoric civilizations and written

down math in the Vedas etc......

 

Christianity, of various types, probably smoothed things out after

the period of Roman Decadence, and allowed 'codes of chivalry'

(troubadors and Cathars), to arise, which provided a general code of

behaviour and ethics, absent in many societies, even today. One can

see this in Canada and elsewhere, where the code of ethics of many

migrants, from China and elswhere clashes with the 'Chivalric type

code' of the Westerners, which was born in Judeo-Christianity and

honed in several revolutions, namely, " the 'The Glorius Revolution

of 1688 " in England, The American Revolution, and the French

Revolution..............Tony.

 

--- End forwarded message ---