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It is not for nothing that Islam demands a measure of respect for the "religions of the book", i.e., Christianity and Judaism. The three pray to the same God of Abraham.

Western culture is to a large extent the result of putting a semitic religion on an Indo-European substrate.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 30th, 2007 at 11:01:11 AM EST
That semitic religion being one previously influenced by Indo-European (Greek) culture.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Fri Mar 30th, 2007 at 04:30:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Indo-European? Not sure what that means other than to the linguists. Are the commonalities c. 100 A.D. between India, Germanic and Slavic tribes, and Greece somehow meaningful as opposed to, say India and China or Greece and North Africa?
by MarekNYC on Fri Mar 30th, 2007 at 04:39:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Indo-European tripartition of society into the religious class, the warring class, and the working class is pretty much specific to Indo Europeans. And a deep organisation of classes : see Indian casts, Celtic druids, warriors and the rest, Plato's Republic, the monarchic system in France with nobles, religious authorities, and the tiers état, or today with politicians, CEOs and wage slaves (last interpretation still subject to ongoing anthropological research and a copious amount of snark)

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Fri Mar 30th, 2007 at 09:08:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
How about the Japanese, Carthage, the Aztecs etc?
by MarekNYC on Sat Mar 31st, 2007 at 10:53:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm not sure there was a religious cast in Japan with real powers. I never heard of one in China. I don't know much about Carthage, and I'm not sure anybody knows about it - very little is known about Cathaginian civilization.   The wikipedia  page doesn't mention a religious class among the Aztecs...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Sat Mar 31st, 2007 at 07:19:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In Japan, wasn't the Emperor divine?

aspiring to genteel poverty

by edwin (eeeeeeee222222rrrrreeeeeaaaaadddddd@@@@yyyyaaaaaaa) on Sat Mar 31st, 2007 at 09:26:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Emperor was indeed divine (as he was in Egypt, or among the Inca) ; but there doesn't seem to really have been a separate caste or class devoted to religious practice, independant of the warrior/worker duality ; that is mostly specific to indo europeans.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Sat Mar 31st, 2007 at 10:10:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'd say one or two centuries earlier, India was culturally/religiously still more like Europe (be it Germanic tribes or the Roman empire) than China. AD 100 was in the middle of a transition time (Buddhism goes to China, Hinduism as we know it develops).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Mar 31st, 2007 at 03:44:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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