Merry Christmas!

So Merry Christmas to all those of Christian faith.  I have to say since I was a kid it is one of my favorite holidays.   Even though some of my own excitement is not nearly as significant as when I was a kid, I still think of it as a holiday of giving, renewal and our commercial system could use some renewal and rebirth about now.  

The holiday is an ancient one, corresponding with the old Roman holiday of Saturnalia where masters and servants would exchange roles.   The holiday was then assigned the 25th by the early Christians to correspond to that holiday since pagans did not want to give up the holiday when converting to Christianity. Even before that the ancient world celebrated the holiday for thousands of years as it corresponds to the winter solstice.

So instead of economics, technology or politics I thought I’d do a post that tended more  towards the philosophical and list a bunch of questions on my mind on the topic that I myself wonder about.  It’s honestly not intended to offend any idea and shouldn’t be much more provocative then if you turned on the history channel for an hour (it's my favorite channel).  Also I have a horrible cold and am on some cold medication so anything overly controversial should be ascribed solely to that rather than to offend:

• Is religion in the east the same as it is in the west? Or is it more of philosophy or view of the cosmos?   Why such an emphasis on philosophy instead in the east?

• Why is it that religion in the west are more political in nature than those in the east?  With the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe craved order.   Did the Church fill that gap and therefore became much more a force in politics than religions of the East even when order was reestablished?  So on the positive side, the Church gave Europe continuity but at the expense of encroachment into the political realm later on.   Why no equivalent of a “papal states” in the east?  Did eastern religion ever have the equivalent of the head of church naming heads of state or controlling actual territory and an army?  

• What was the main driver of many polytheistic or "pagan" heads of state in Europe for adopting a monotheistic form of religion? Was it an act of faith of alone or was something else driving the decision?  What about Constantine?  Did he view his decision as a unifying force in an empire that had become exceptionally difficult to control? 

• What was the main driver in the motivation of Jesus to split off and form a new sect of Judaism later to be called Christianity?   What were the priests in Jerusalem doing that induced such a desire to revolt?  What was his intent for the movement?  The Jews had called for a Messiah to free them from Roman rule, but did Jesus really fill that role? Was that his objective or was it something else?

• Amenhotep IV, aka Akenhaton was an Egyptian ruler who first tried to move Egyptian society to the monotheistic worship of Aten (around 1336 BC).  There was an example of “Set” being their one God but it wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the revolution that took place with Aten.   There was a huge revolt against this in Egyptian society but did it have an influence on how we practice religion even today? For example, the Jews spent a time settled in Egypt—and originally worshiped many gods like every other people at that time—did the actions of Amenhotep influence the development of Judiasm?  Did it influence the thinking of Moses in the exodus from Egypt and consequently Islam and Christianity today?  

• Was Egypt the first example of monotheism?  Did it have political ramifications or religious ones other than the obvious?  There was a significant power struggle in Egypt when one pharaoh decided to worship just one God, Akhenaton instead of allowing multiple gods.  The priests hated it because they felt like they were being controlled and it disrupted the various gravy trains that existed in Egypt at the time. 

• For thousands of years there has been significant conflict in the “western” religions specifically Judaism, Islam and Christianity but aren’t all of these religions effectively based on the same tenets?  Isn't it the same exact belief system? Specifically Judaism----->Christianity--> Islam all being modifications of each other all based out of the Old Testament and iterations.  For example, during the Crusades the muslims built a mosque over the old Jewish Temple (Temple of Solomon) to reinforce the idea that Islam was an evolution of Judaism.  Since the Church during the post roman era had become so political is it not natural for native people to want to found their own version of it with control based in their native lands? So is the founding of Islam and the various sects that broke off from the Catholic Church so unexpected? Why so much conflict between these faiths when they are so similar as opposed to conflict between say Hindu’s or other  eastern religions?

• Why are religions based on monism –belief that the universe is really just one vast connected entity, not really commonly found in the modern world?  What are the advantages of this type of cosmological view of the universe?  There are some sects of Indian religions that have this concept (Smartism to an extent), but many of these sects appear to be influenced by early Christianity and have a focus on one god. Shiva etc.  Other than that very view people in the world believe this.  Does the idea have little merit? Is it just there is little value for anyone to proselytize the idea.  i.e. If we are all in effect part of a single energy, then what does one individual have to gain if you believe it or not.  Or is there an entirely different reason that this never caught on?  Monism takes a lot of different forms but generally it's the idea that all living things are connected in the universe.  It's also compatible with concepts such as Karma,  and the idea that what you put out, comes back to you, in one form or another.  

• Why was the United States founded with such a strong boundary between church and state? What pitfalls were the founding fathers worried about?  Have we deviated much from that boundary? Has it been a good thing or a bad thing? For religion? For the state? Is our country better or worse for it?

• Did a monotheistic practice and the resulting increased political control in Europe help them organize and advance in a better way than those in the East? Is that a good or a bad thing or was the advancement do to other factors entirely?

• In order to gain legitimacy as a ruler, the greatest conqueror of ancient times, Alexander,  named himself the son of a god in order to rule more effectively.   What other examples are there where cultures had the leader of a movement or faith being the son of a deity?  Wasn’t it a prerequisite for almost any religious or political movement of the time?  Why is it viewed as such a unique condition of Christianity now?

And now back to trying to out sleep my cold.  And man, I never get sick but I made a comment to someone who had a cold and said they should try Airborne since I have not had a cold for 3 years after using it.  Then I promptly got a cold.   Must be karma.