But the whole point of Masonry, originally, was to fight for secular Enlightenment values and against Church repression and superstition.
Countries where the state oppresses cults do not, of course, count.
Yes. And I once considered looking at joining them but their need to swear to a higher power was a deal breaker for me. I did eventually mellow it out of my atheism and nowadays and I’m mostly an agnostic, but their reported swearing ceremony of allegiance to one god remains a problem for me.
It doesn’t, of course, pace Spock and Aristotle.
I believe religion started when some very clever cave men decided superstition was an effective way to manipulate large groups of people and attain great wealth and power. When Xtianity wanes (or any and all religions) it will be replaced by a more effective form of brainwashing, possibly related to the internet, smart phones, or a chip imbedded into the brain/ drugs administered without knowledge or consent. That’s my guess.
I think it’s a little ridiculous to assume religion started out as a method of manipulating the tribe. It may have gotten used that way but I doubt Uggha the caveman was intent on creating the opiate of the masses.
At its base, I think all religions (or at least religions like Christianity that have prayer and an afterlife) stem from two things: one, the desire to be able to get on your knees and hope so desperately for a thing to happen and have something other than the knowledge of a cold, uncaring universe that answers; and two, a fear of death. These are what first caused religion - the cynical, manipulative people in power mentioned upthread may have capitalized on this and profited from it, but they were not the cause. In a post-Christian society, some other faith would take its place; a desire for hope when everything seems dark and death will probably always be with us (“probably” because of computer uploaded consciousness and whatnot defeating death). Given the worldwide trend of atheism in first world countries we see, it might be less of a literal God and more like what some theistic agnostics lean towards.
Now, how the world would arrive at a post-Christian society is a whole other thread . . .
Why not? A smart, resourceful primitive sees that the big musclebound guys get the best women, the most food, and the nicest huts. The smart guy is too small to go head to head for more and better stuff, so he comes up with a plan to convince the clan that the Sun God, (or the Big Rock God, or the Thunder God) is displeased, that’s why the drought has driven the antelope farther away from the hunting grounds, and decimated the deer population. “But not to worry”, he says, "The Big Rock God came to me in a vision and told me if we get on our knees and recite this little chant and also sacrifice a couple of goats and a virgin, He’ll open the waterworks, and we’ll have a good hunting season. Also, I get to wear a cool witchdoctor outfit and y’all have to be nice to me, or I’ll tell Big Rock God to curse you and your family.
Sounds like a plan that would work.
Assuming that Uggha’s society was organized as depicted in every 20th century cartoon and high-school boy’s mind.
Don’t we have any anthropologists here who could speculate on the possible differences between a pre- and post-Christian society?
The world had been in existence for centuries and it is no Better now that Christianity is here. The 10 Commandments are proof of that.
One can look to Japan and see that only 1% of the population is Christian and they have less crime than any other country.
Of course, they do have other religions, and the next life is a big deal in Buddhism if not in Shinto.
How about Israel?
Obviously, human suffering is reduced, but not eliminated. Fewer insane homophobes will be generated. Fewer bad marriages staying together. Fewer people guilted into having children they don’t want. Fewer people denying science. Fewer people wasting time on Sundays.
So, you’re telling me (hey, Anthropology was my minor in college) that primitive man, say Cro-Magnon, was not clever and devious enough to manipulate the less brilliant members of his tribe? Are you saying he didn’t feel competition at an intellectual level? Could he not tell lies and mislead his inferiors in order to profit? Are you saying politics was developed at a later time than religion?
Fwiw, the UK is now ‘post-Christian’ according to the former head of the Church of England:
He’s not wrong.
Is that how Cro-Magnon has been depicted in cartoons?
I would say he was not clever or devious enough to doubt the reality of the supernatural forces he spoke of. Every known human culture has believed in such things from its early history. Humans think narratively, we tend to think life unfolds as a story that makes some sense in human terms, which means the forces of nature are anthropomorphic and approachable. That’s normal. Actual science requires some great and rare leaps of imagination.
I remember reading a book that argued True Believers were astonishingly ill-suited to play the role of a primitive tribal shaman; whenever the “magic” doesn’t work, he’d say one thing if he expected success and honestly doesn’t know why it failed – and he’d say the exact opposite if he’s a charlatan already rehearsing his excuses ahead of time.
I’ve read Spirits Stars and Spells: The Profits and Perils of Magic. L. Sprague & Catherine de Camp’s view is that tribal wizards really do believe in their own powers; but they also know them to be not always entirely reliable, therefore they always have prepared excuses. E.g., on casting a spell to assure a good hunt, a witch doctor might proclaim, “Let no man go in unto his wife for three days!” If the hunt failed, it was always plausible – even to the witch doctor – that some men had broken the ban.