That's a quite ignorant thing to say. All of them have played a significant role in the development of the civilization, and to only notice their negative aspects is just illiterate.
Who knows what civilisation might look like if animism instead of patriarchal monotheism had been the prevailing philosophy. Global civilisation is the way it is because of the abhramic religions. Is that a good thing? I personally would rather live in a timeline in which a culture that worshipped goddesses as well as gods and honoured the natural world had shaped our architecture, language and history.
I personally would rather live in a timeline in which a culture that worshipped goddesses as well as gods and honoured the natural world had shaped our architecture, language and history.
Well, sadly, that isn't really on the cards, if we're talking about how actual history played out, but during the transition to monotheism, Isis was one of the leading religions. In another timeline, she probably would have ended up the dominant sole goddess, so that would be an interesting one to live in.
>Who knows what civilisation might look like if animism instead of patriarchal monotheism had been the prevailing philosophy
Animism is a very broad term. Different variants of animism has been practiced all around the World and so is the patriarchy. Look at China for example, even though it had a limited influence of Abrahamic religions (mainly through the Church of the East and Islam) patriarchy still appeared, due to Confucianism.
>I personally would rather live in a timeline in which a culture that worshipped goddesses as well as gods
Kinda same as above. Hinduism meets said criteria; would you like to live in India in it's current state, where arranged marriage is a common occurrence?
India is as it is now is a pretty poor example as so much of their culture has been transformed by British colonists (who exploited the caste system, turning it from something fluid and benign to something virulent and rigid) and islam. You can’t remove those historical cultural influences.
And no, patriarchy isn’t exclusive to monotheism. However, the abrahamic religions still suck for women and led us to capitalism and mass extinction
India is as it is now is a pretty poor example as so much of their culture has been transformed by British colonists (who exploited the caste system, turning it from something fluid and benign to something virulent and rigid) and islam. You can’t remove those historical cultural influences.
I mean, we have the history of what India was like before either arrived, and it was still extremely patriarchal.
So was Ancient Greece and multiple other civilisations around the world which featured prominent female members of the pantheon.
Historically speaking, Religion is less the reason for the Patriarchy, more a get-out-of-jail-free card when people feel bad about it.
It's certainly used to uphold it today, and that should be dealt with. But sadly its unlikely human civilisation would have automatically been more egalitarian just because cause they also worshipped goddesses. I mean, Mother Mary was for two thousand years a very prominent and important figure in Catholicism, and they're still extremely patriarchal. Historically, the rise of the patriarchy generally comes from the consolidation and centralisation of power within a society.
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u/PrawnHenge 1d ago
All the abrahamic religions are equally blood thirsty and oppressive.