Quote:
Arryn said:
You are SO wrong about this. You have it backwards. Preaching is a "modern" development. Modern in the sense of having arisen with civilization and writing. Pagan religions dating back to prehistoric times, including one of the oldest, Wicca (which remains somewhat popular even today), are much more focused on prayer and ritual and far less on evangelization and dogmatic instruction. Preaching is a tool that was developed to control commonfolk and bend them to the will of their rulers, who in ancient and medieval times were religious figures (or in certain countries even today).
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Actually the knowledge on prehistoric religion is very scarce as there is nothing written about it. That is why it is called prehistoric. Only archaeological evidence or in rare cases written sources from other civilizations (often romans) can give us any clues about it.
Wicca is a modern religion (although some adherents would disagree). 1954 Gardner wrote
witchcraft today, a book that described a cult that later developed into the Wicca of today. Wicca, like most new age movements claim to be successors of ancient traditions, but those ancient traditions are very little known due to the fact that nothing is written about them.
If you are not religious: It is not preaching that is a tool to control people, it is religion as a whole. A belief system that legitimizes the current state of society, life, death and everything that happens in the world. Personal expressions of faith are not important if you define religion in this way.
The further back in history you go the more prominent religion becomes in legitimizing the rulers.
Re: Ceremonial Faith
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