who in the world is religious and why?

[truthmatters]

http://mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf

90 seconds on the entire history of religion.

[darin]

Interesting - while watching that little movie I was struck by how Christian nations tend to have prospered and advanced, while 'other' faith nations comprise more of what we consider 3rd - World.

[Dilloduck]

Interesting - while watching that little movie I was struck by how Christian nations tend to have prospered and advanced, while 'other' faith nations comprise more of what we consider 3rd - World.

Like the Amish ?

[avatar4321]

Interesting - while watching that little movie I was struck by how Christian nations tend to have prospered and advanced, while 'other' faith nations comprise more of what we consider 3rd - World.

not sure i understand how you got that. from what I see is Christianity has spread through missionary efforts through much of the so called 3rd world, or global south.

Personally, i think the map is rather symplistic. it ignores other major religions. it ignores the athiesm of communism. etc. Amusing but quite worthless in reality.

[Hagbard Celine]

Interesting - while watching that little movie I was struck by how Christian nations tend to have prospered and advanced, while 'other' faith nations comprise more of what we consider 3rd - World.

Prosperity has less to do with Christianity and more to do with geography and human migration/trade patterns. There's a great book on the subject called "Guns, Germs and Steel" if you're interested. Ancient Western civilization prospered above and beyond most others well before Christianity became the most widespread religion. Just look at the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. Christianity didn't begin to influence western civilization until near the end of the Roman empire's almost 1000-year-timespan. Plus, it wasn't until after Christian theocratic rule, during the Renaissance and a return to humanism that Western civilization began to flourish and progress once again following the so-called "Dark Ages."
Don't get me wrong, Christianity has been great for western civilization. It's brought about many great things, the advent of human rights and the abolition of slavery not being the least of those great things, I just wouldn't get all misty-eyed and attribute western civilization's success to religion. It has much more to do with the fact that western civilization has benefited greatly from the abundance of trade and the mixing of cultural ideas of the "fertile crescent" area as well as the geographical blessings of temperate weather and arable land.
The European colonization and domination of the Americas is a historical stroke of luck too. If not for the decision by Chinese Emperor Zhu Di in the year 1421, it might've been the Chinese who colonized and dominated the Americas instead of Europeans.

[truthmatters]

Zhu Di's successors, the Hongxi Emperor and the Xuande Emperor, felt the expeditions were harmful to the Chinese state. The Hongxi Emperor ended further expeditions and the Xuande Emperor suppressed much of the information about the Zheng He voyages.

I think you are blaming the wrong guy.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongle_Emperor#Exploration_of_the_World

[darin]

not sure i understand how you got that. from what I see is Christianity has spread through missionary efforts through much of the so called 3rd world, or global south.

Personally, i think the map is rather symplistic. it ignores other major religions. it ignores the athiesm of communism. etc. Amusing but quite worthless in reality.

Looking generally at the 'blue' in that clip, those nations are 'generally' more prosperous or advanced. Europe and North American are off-the-charts in terms of advancements. Whereas, in most of asia and africa where other-than-christianity dominates, the countries are less-than.

[Hagbard Celine]

Zhu Di's successors, the Hongxi Emperor and the Xuande Emperor, felt the expeditions were harmful to the Chinese state. The Hongxi Emperor ended further expeditions and the Xuande Emperor suppressed much of the information about the Zheng He voyages.

I think you are blaming the wrong guy.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongle_Emperor#Exploration_of_the_World

Either way. Chingy Changy She. Changy Wangy Wang. They all look the same. :dance:

[truthmatters]

Either way. Chingy Changy She. Changy Wangy Wang. They all look the same. :dance:

Hey I did not even know who the guy was until you posted his name and I read about him so thanks for the information.

[glockmail]

Like the Amish ?
An exceedingly prosperous culture.

[glockmail]

Hey I did not even know who the guy was until you posted his name and I read about him so thanks for the information.

Its just more revisionist history by the far-left. China has never had designs on the New World, or world domination.

[Hagbard Celine]

Its just more revisionist history by the far-left. China has never had designs on the New World, or world domination.

They discovered the western coast of North America in 1421 and explored the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the surrounding years using multiple-hulled ships they invented centuries before Europeans did. Succeeding emperors deemed the expeditions fruitless, decreeing that the outside world had nothing to offer China so the expeditions stopped. It's history. I don't know what's "revisionist" about it except for the fact that for some weird reason you don't seem to like it.

[darin]

We used Multiple-hull ships for WEEKS back in 'Nam.

[Hagbard Celine]

We used Multiple-hull ships for WEEKS back in 'Nam.

Sweet.

[darin]

Sweet.

You have NO idea how sweet it was. Those were the days... Over Macho Grande...

[glockmail]

They discovered the western coast of North America in 1421 and explored the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the surrounding years using multiple-hulled ships they invented centuries before Europeans did. Succeeding emperors deemed the expeditions fruitless, decreeing that the outside world had nothing to offer China so the expeditions stopped. It's history. I don't know what's "revisionist" about it except for the fact that for some weird reason you don't seem to like it. The revisionism is the conclusion derived by the author.

[Hagbard Celine]

You have NO idea how sweet it was. Those were the days... Over Macho Grande...

Nachos bel Grande you say? Mmmm. Nachos....

[avatar4321]

Even if the Chinese has lead the expansion thats not to say that Christianity would not have been as widespread.

For one the Europeans were only slightly behind the chinese in building the technology and they were extremely competitive.

Another outsiders, such as the Germanics, Vikings, Slavs etc had been attacking Christian europe throughout the middle ages. All those groups eventually converted and became staunch Christians. The only group that wasnt converted were the Muslim attackers. However, I think that is because they had a strong religious belief they were spreading themselves.

The Chinese had no strong religion to spread. Thats not to say that the Chinese didnt have religions, but Chinese faiths are not highly prosyleting religions.

In particular the conquest of the Americas, the tribes and civilizations there had a believe that the people who conquored had superior gods and would convert to the conquoring religion. This isnt without any force from the conquorers. it was just a cultural thing. As long as the Europeans had managed a win in the Americas Christianity still would have spread because the culture there would have adopted it.

Unfortunately we are dealing with what ifs. they arent reality or truth. The truth is the Europeans were the ones who showed the Ingeniuty to traverse the world. It was the Europeans who brought literacy to the general public. It was the Europeans who initiated the modern sciences. And one cannot ignore Christianity's involvement in initiating that.

Did you guys know the Printing press existed in Korea before it was built in Europe? The only reason it took off in Europe is because the general public wanted the Bible. It was the desire to read the Bible that caused so many people to become literate.

[April15]

The simple answer; Most who have been informed of a supreme being have accepted the concept. The reason is that it makes life have reason to them.

[Hagbard Celine]

Unfortunately we are dealing with what ifs. they arent reality or truth. The truth is the Europeans were the ones who showed the Ingeniuty to traverse the world. It was the Europeans who brought literacy to the general public. It was the Europeans who initiated the modern sciences. And one cannot ignore Christianity's involvement in initiating that.

Did you guys know the Printing press existed in Korea before it was built in Europe? The only reason it took off in Europe is because the general public wanted the Bible. It was the desire to read the Bible that caused so many people to become literate.
I think the people would've wanted to read "the law," which is what the Bible was, regardless of whether or not it had anything to do with God. It became a necessity for people to read so that the church/government could not take advantage of them. It was a huge deal for the Bible to be printed in English, German, Italian, etc. because before then, it was only written in Latin, which only a select few could read.

[avatar4321]

The simple answer; Most who have been informed of a supreme being have accepted the concept. The reason is that it makes life have reason to them.

Or because they have personal experience with said Supreme Being and acknowledge Him as their Father.

[actsnoblemartin]

interesting, but were still the richest.

:dance:


http://mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf

90 seconds on the entire history of religion.

[April15]

Even if the Chinese has lead the expansion thats not to say that Christianity would not have been as widespread.

For one the Europeans were only slightly behind the chinese in building the technology and they were extremely competitive.

Another outsiders, such as the Germanics, Vikings, Slavs etc had been attacking Christian europe throughout the middle ages. All those groups eventually converted and became staunch Christians. The only group that wasnt converted were the Muslim attackers. However, I think that is because they had a strong religious belief they were spreading themselves.

The Chinese had no strong religion to spread. Thats not to say that the Chinese didnt have religions, but Chinese faiths are not highly prosyleting religions.

In particular the conquest of the Americas, the tribes and civilizations there had a believe that the people who conquored had superior gods and would convert to the conquoring religion. This isnt without any force from the conquorers. it was just a cultural thing. As long as the Europeans had managed a win in the Americas Christianity still would have spread because the culture there would have adopted it.

Unfortunately we are dealing with what ifs. they arent reality or truth. The truth is the Europeans were the ones who showed the Ingeniuty to traverse the world. It was the Europeans who brought literacy to the general public. It was the Europeans who initiated the modern sciences. And one cannot ignore Christianity's involvement in initiating that.

Did you guys know the Printing press existed in Korea before it was built in Europe? The only reason it took off in Europe is because the general public wanted the Bible. It was the desire to read the Bible that caused so many people to become literate.

China has and had more room than Europe to grow in. Another part of the European expansion was the desire for faster trade routes to China and Persia. Profit was not a Chinese concern as they still had slaves at the 1400's. And the idea that the earth was flat had been dismissed making circumnavigation real.

[Said1]

Prosperity has less to do with Christianity and more to do with geography and human migration/trade patterns. There's a great book on the subject called "Guns, Germs and Steel" if you're interested. Ancient Western civilization prospered above and beyond most others well before Christianity became the most widespread religion. Just look at the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. Christianity didn't begin to influence western civilization until near the end of the Roman empire's almost 1000-year-timespan. Plus, it wasn't until after Christian theocratic rule, during the Renaissance and a return to humanism that Western civilization began to flourish and progress once again following the so-called "Dark Ages."
Don't get me wrong, Christianity has been great for western civilization. It's brought about many great things, the advent of human rights and the abolition of slavery not being the least of those great things, I just wouldn't get all misty-eyed and attribute western civilization's success to religion. It has much more to do with the fact that western civilization has benefited greatly from the abundance of trade and the mixing of cultural ideas of the "fertile crescent" area as well as the geographical blessings of temperate weather and arable land.
The European colonization and domination of the Americas is a historical stroke of luck too. If not for the decision by Chinese Emperor Zhu Di in the year 1421, it might've been the Chinese who colonized and dominated the Americas instead of Europeans.


Pick up a copy of "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations". Similar although Landes focus is largely on industrialization, the industrial revolution and adaptation.

[PostmodernProphet]

Its just more revisionist history by the far-left. China has never had designs on the New World, or world domination.

true....Ghengis was a Mongol, not a Mandarin.....