Hopefully, every ones summer went well and you are prepared to start the new year on a good note. This will be the 5th and last discussion question given. Be ready to hand in all assignments by Wednesday September 3rd. No assignments will be accepted after that point. Any questions you should email me or ask your peers.
#5
According to Diamond, how does religion evolve along with increasingly complex societies?
11 comments:
DiscussionQ#5:
According to historians, the very purpose of religion is to explain and to create some understanding for the supernatural occurrances that occur in an individuals life, as well as guide the believer through life and to create some sense of purpose and belonging( the religions were polytheistic).also to tell whether there is really life after death.
In the early civilizations such as the mayan and inca, these people would provide living sacrifices for their gods.usually if they gave a sacrifice to a god in their belief, they were given in return good harvest, rain or even healing.people were also killing each other for no apparent reason such as the fayu. in addition, there was a chief that everyone in a village could go to for help.During this time the peoples themselves were originally tribes with small populations. Eventually as tribes began to almagate they developed into chiefdoms whether it was due to conquest or free will.
however, as societies became more complex the religions of the world began to evolve as well. With combined tribes many religions united as well and some traditions were forgotten. Chiefs now have to justify the reasons for their actions and people now had a reason to not kill their brethren on sight. Also people with higher power who claimed to have connections with the gods now were able to persuade people to fight in the name of the gods for conquest. Lastly the people became united under one religion and went from polytheistic to monotheistic.
In every humans life there are questions that need to be answered.A way for humans to attempt to answer these questions is by using religion.depending on how strong a cvilization is there religion is also stronger.the smaller civilizations usually believed in animism.
According to Diamond relogion evolves along with increasingly complex societies for many reasons. The first reason is because complex societies are usually many groups of people who are not linked by blood(as in they are not blood related). Therefore religion is used to get the people to unite. Another reason religions eveolve with complex societies is because societies need leaders. In some cases the land's leader stated that some god gave him/her the power. For example The Mandate of Heaven stated that the gods(from heaven) gave the emperor the power and they can also take it away. In order for a complex society to work everyone must do their part. Religions give people a higer purpose and hope by stating something after death to help the families of the dead and to give people a on-going goal so they dont feel useless. Also religions evolved with societies because they give people the little extra bost they need to fight wars and kill in order to gain something.
Religion evolves in complex society as to explain and support the supernatural or mystery events, or to simply have a guidance and a leader through life to gain support from. As societies start to develop and to modernize, people who aren't used to being around "new" or "mysterious" events of happenings. They constantly ask questions about the events and life, and religion is a way or the only way for the question to be answered without the possibility of being incorrect.
Government, at times has to have a reason for the certain actions or laws they pass, so they often involve religion to answer commoner's questions and the governement's purposes. Religion also unites people, tribes, or chiefdoms, and can often settle a problem.
According to Diamond religion is one of the things that can keep people in control when the leader is a Kleptocracy who keeps all the money he recieves to himself and not use the money for good causes or "give back" to the poeple like a state type of governemnt. Religion also evolve along with increasing complex sociesties because as the people interact with eachother it causes people to exchange information or it can cause cultural diffusion. Jared Diamond also mentions in his book that the presence of a religious figure gives the warriors a goal and help them overcome fear. An example of this was the collision at Cajamarca when the priest told the christians to "come out Come out come at the enemy dog who reject the thing of god".Another reason that religion evolve along side complex sociesties is because in order to have religion there is to be a religious figure. However religious figures can not be fed and kept alive with only food from hunter-gatherers so the people who have religious figures and religion are mostly people who have a large surplus of food such as people who practice food production. Food production then causes the population to expand and led to political figures, weapons and other elements that make up a complex society.
This is sirintra by the way.
In response to guillermo i also believe that religion can also be used to explain things in nature like rain and drought but why do civilizations like the mayan and Aztec believe in Religion in the first place because they already have sories that tell the meaning of the the rain or drought? Also what if the civilization is collapsing? do the people who used to believe in a god or different god stop believing in it entirely?
Sirintra in the Mayan case the priest would make frequent sacrifices. If the sacrifices didnt work and things were collapsing there would just be more human sacrifices,and ultimatly if more sacrifices didnt work the citizens would blame the priests. The priest would suffer the consequences.fyi Faith is always the last thing that is lost.
Accroding to Diamond the spread of religon happen to explain the unexplainable,so in the chapter "How the China became the Chinise".The Emperors of China belived in the Madate of heaven which had a god that chose they current rurler to be emperor because the emperor was unfit to rule. That explain how the emperor got to be emperor. In egypt the people had a belief in a thearchy and was a polythesic group so that explained why they whorshiped so many gods. Aslo in Europe, diamond explains how the christians missionaries spread their religion to the Indians, and the Africans. The statemnet connects to question number eleven which says,"How does Diamond explain that fact it was mevertheless Europe and not Southwest Asia that ended up spreading it's culuture to the rest of the world. Theat statement connects with this sentence because Europe coloinzation of the that period after China gave up it's lead on technology because enthrocentrism and religous beliefs. This also had a very a continuity or chaginig effect on the socitey.
Post your AP scores here, if you feel comfortable enough. If not please email me PFarrelly@schools.nyc.gov
Thanks and enjoy the rest of your summer!!!!!!!!!!!
Farrelly
Post a Comment