Modern technologies are accelerating the transmission of these ideas though. I was recently in Mexico and was astounded at the night and day difference of the kids there today vs. of when I would go to Mexico as a child myself. Every kid was on a cell phone, watching Netflix at home (my nephews), they had Amazon, loved Taylor Swift, used social media, and more. They weren’t as distinguishable from teens in the USA.
I'm still thinking about this, but in a conversation elsewhere Tove said:
> I'm not a Christian. The idea of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit seems indeed very attractive, but I don't get it. I think Christianity is a successful viral idea because missionaries managed to sell in Christianity to everyone from the Inuits to the Amazonian native Americans. Somehow, people of very different backgrounds traded their traditional religions for Christianity. Like if Christianity is the easy part of Western culture while most of the rest is rather difficult to adopt.
This isn't an attempt at a refutation of your main idea, but, wasn't a major factor the pressure from *within* the religion, combined with the material culture associated with Christianity? Earlier religions seldom encouraged conversion like Christianity did, which gave Christians an incentive to export their beliefs elsewhere. Although prospective converts may have been interested in the religion on its own terms, much of the attraction for prospective converts may have been the aura of success associated with it. The Mediterranean had long been a center of wealth and learning, and for many, accepting Christianity may have just been a side factor in the issue of whether you want more civilization or not.
>Although prospective converts may have been interested in the religion on its own terms, much of the attraction for prospective converts may have been the aura of success associated with it.
I very much agree. Still, Christianity seems to be the easiest part of the successful West to adopt. For example, I rather recently read anthropologist Jean Briggs book Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family. Briggs found a group of Netsilik Eskimo who led a very traditional life. They lived in iglus, they hunted, they moved with the prey, they visited a town to trade stuff about twice a year. And still, they were adamantly Christian. Briggs wanted very much to find someone who could tell about the old shamanic religion. That proved to be impossible. Shamanism was seen as old-fashioned and embarrassing. If Jean wanted to talk religion, she had to talk about Christianity.
Modern technologies are accelerating the transmission of these ideas though. I was recently in Mexico and was astounded at the night and day difference of the kids there today vs. of when I would go to Mexico as a child myself. Every kid was on a cell phone, watching Netflix at home (my nephews), they had Amazon, loved Taylor Swift, used social media, and more. They weren’t as distinguishable from teens in the USA.
I'm still thinking about this, but in a conversation elsewhere Tove said:
> I'm not a Christian. The idea of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit seems indeed very attractive, but I don't get it. I think Christianity is a successful viral idea because missionaries managed to sell in Christianity to everyone from the Inuits to the Amazonian native Americans. Somehow, people of very different backgrounds traded their traditional religions for Christianity. Like if Christianity is the easy part of Western culture while most of the rest is rather difficult to adopt.
This isn't an attempt at a refutation of your main idea, but, wasn't a major factor the pressure from *within* the religion, combined with the material culture associated with Christianity? Earlier religions seldom encouraged conversion like Christianity did, which gave Christians an incentive to export their beliefs elsewhere. Although prospective converts may have been interested in the religion on its own terms, much of the attraction for prospective converts may have been the aura of success associated with it. The Mediterranean had long been a center of wealth and learning, and for many, accepting Christianity may have just been a side factor in the issue of whether you want more civilization or not.
>Although prospective converts may have been interested in the religion on its own terms, much of the attraction for prospective converts may have been the aura of success associated with it.
I very much agree. Still, Christianity seems to be the easiest part of the successful West to adopt. For example, I rather recently read anthropologist Jean Briggs book Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family. Briggs found a group of Netsilik Eskimo who led a very traditional life. They lived in iglus, they hunted, they moved with the prey, they visited a town to trade stuff about twice a year. And still, they were adamantly Christian. Briggs wanted very much to find someone who could tell about the old shamanic religion. That proved to be impossible. Shamanism was seen as old-fashioned and embarrassing. If Jean wanted to talk religion, she had to talk about Christianity.
Yay! Just as I was starting to worry about when the next WFE post was coming out, it came out! And it's a huge argument for pronatalism!