Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id KAA21082 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 17 Nov 2000 10:43:32 GMT Message-ID: <A4400389479FD3118C9400508B0FF2300410E8@DELTA.newhouse.akzonobel.nl> From: "Gatherer, D. (Derek)" <D.Gatherer@organon.nhe.akzonobel.nl> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: religion/spirituality Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 11:38:20 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Vincent:
I thought monotheism was preferable to polytheism from a purely pragamtic
view. It's a hell of a lot easier for people to remember one god's name
than hundreds of names for gods for all sorts of things (animals and plants,
rivers and mountains, emotional states etc.).
Derek:
I've heard this argument before in memetic circles and it's a very poor one
indeed. Are you really suggesting that people are converted to monotheism
just because they prefer to learn one word rather than 20 or so??? In any
case, are you suggesting that devotees of polytheistic religions actually
know the names of all the gods and their concomitant purposes etc? Most
Christians can only with great difficulty explain matters of theology, so
why should the required knowledge base of a religion (at expert theological
level) be of any relevance to its spread??? The psychology of religious
conversion and experience is far more complicated than some kind of word
memory game. People converting to a religion usually do so in a kind of
inexplicable mood shift ('the road to Damascus' experience), and only later
start to rationalise it, which might then include learning a little theology
(but not much in the case of most people).
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