Using monotheism and polytheism as a metaphor here was a poor choice. I really get tired of the myth that the polytheistic cultures of antiquity were much more religiously tolerant than the later monotheistic cultures.
This is a myth caused by an appeal to common sense that is not supported by the evidence. Let's take Roman society as an example. They may have had plenty of gods to worship, but there was an official state religion with compulsory worship, and they were hardly tolerant of deviation (see the ancient Christians for examples).
Actually, romans were usually tolerant of other religions. Yes, some religions were persecuted, but that was usually due to political reasons. Many (most?) christians were persecuted not for not following official religion but for creating unrest and speaking against Rome.
You're wrong. Religion in antiquity was different. It was our first attempt at philosophy, even though many of the best Greek thinkers stopped believing as they slowly built their own sphere of knowledge as a real form of (natural) philosophy. As to your example, the Roman era: religion is, of course, a great way to justify an absolutist regime. Why is someone king? Because god wants it. This is one of the reasons why the surviving monarchies are still strongly tied to religion. They receive (in part) both their legitimacy and mission from the idea that they have a divine task as the monarch. It can be a great political tool in general, too, as anyone who is following American politics can confirm. The Romans were actually relatively tolerant, but there were limits. The problem with Christianity was that the early Christians were a rabble-rousing sect that was creating problems for the empire. Their claims were not only farfetched from the viewpoint of a Roman aristocrat, but also challenged the Roman way of life. Ironically, they marketed their faith to slaves, offering them the hope of a better life after death despite the numerous calls for slavery in particularly the old testament[0]. Despite the whole "render unto Caesar" story, they also refused to recognize the "divinity" of the emperor [1]. This wasn't a problem per se. You could be critical of the divinity of the Caesars privately, but the Christian sect went too far in their zeal in their almost revolutionary and anarchistic spirit. Remember, Jesus preached that (assuming the sources we have are historically accurate on this point) the world was going to end. Most probably in the lifetime of his early followers ("Take therefore no thought of the morrow [...]", Matthew 6:34). Jesus is just the only one we remember from a long line of fanatical, rabble-rousing preachers from Palestine[2] that created problems for the Romans by instigating revolts.
The Roman ruling class objected to Christianity because of its politics, not because it wasn't the "state religion". It absorbed many other cults (e.g. Serapis, Isis, Mithras, see the Wikipedia article on "Religion in Ancient Rome"[3]).
Of course, intolerance goes hand in hand with religious fanaticism in any time, but the monotheistic religions are inherently more intolerant because of their rejection of anything other than their singular god. For the Romans, religion wasn't necessarily a fanatical pursuit, but a way to honor their ancestors and part of their politics. They were open to new religious ideas, as long as it didn't mock their way of life, and often adopted foreign cults as their own. In a way, very much alike to many modern believers, who take a little bit of everything in order to create their own, vague interpretation of spirituality.
[1]: The divinity of the emperor was a complicated subject that can't really be compared to current religious worship in monotheism. Unlike the uneducated impression I have of Japan, for example, virtually no Romans actually believed that the emperor was a god in the modern sense of the word. It was mostly a honorific title, going back to Alexander the Great who was the first in a line of Greek/Roman rulers to explicitly compare himself with a mythical figure (Heracles in his case, who was not a god). In terms of absolute power over a major part of the human population at the time, however, the Roman emperor (and his Chinese equivalent) were almost like gods.
While I think the monotheists are the most outspoken (and easier to get behind), I don't know whether the overall point is true. Continuing the purely anecdotal style of the OP: I know a lot of people that might fall into the monotheist camp at first glance, but once you start talking, it really isn't true. In my circles, I can quickly name the following configurations:
* The all-out Mac/IPhone user that is constantly eying for B2G and some Linux desktops to finally hit the point where he wants to switch.
* IPhone users complaining that Windows Phone hasn't taken off.
* Windows users using OS X at work and being pleased by both...
I could go on and on. Once you start talking to all of those people, they will happily admit many advantages and flaws of their platforms. The problem is that once you picked one, people automatically assume that you dislike the other. You won't talk much about the nice little things of a platform that you don't use on a daily basis.
I couldn't agree more. I remember talking to a senior exec (acquired as part of a startup buyout) at a previous job and he stressed that there's always room under the big contenders (in areas they can't or don't care about) in any market until you begin to chip away at their market share and become one yourself. In an ideal world, I guess. Good post.
I really do want to be a Yahoo! fanboy too. Wish they would improve Flickr before I migrate to 500px.
I think it's easy not to be a fanboy. But it's hard not to be a hater, especially when it comes to the likes of MS (or what it used to be) and the modern-day Apple.
What is the point of this article? People should see the good in all things, not just things they're predisposed to like? Well, okay, but I that's fairly obvious. There's a reason the term 'fanboy' is never used in a positive way.
[+] [-] learc83|13 years ago|reply
This is a myth caused by an appeal to common sense that is not supported by the evidence. Let's take Roman society as an example. They may have had plenty of gods to worship, but there was an official state religion with compulsory worship, and they were hardly tolerant of deviation (see the ancient Christians for examples).
[+] [-] paradoja|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fmw|13 years ago|reply
The Roman ruling class objected to Christianity because of its politics, not because it wasn't the "state religion". It absorbed many other cults (e.g. Serapis, Isis, Mithras, see the Wikipedia article on "Religion in Ancient Rome"[3]).
Of course, intolerance goes hand in hand with religious fanaticism in any time, but the monotheistic religions are inherently more intolerant because of their rejection of anything other than their singular god. For the Romans, religion wasn't necessarily a fanatical pursuit, but a way to honor their ancestors and part of their politics. They were open to new religious ideas, as long as it didn't mock their way of life, and often adopted foreign cults as their own. In a way, very much alike to many modern believers, who take a little bit of everything in order to create their own, vague interpretation of spirituality.
[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery
[1]: The divinity of the emperor was a complicated subject that can't really be compared to current religious worship in monotheism. Unlike the uneducated impression I have of Japan, for example, virtually no Romans actually believed that the emperor was a god in the modern sense of the word. It was mostly a honorific title, going back to Alexander the Great who was the first in a line of Greek/Roman rulers to explicitly compare himself with a mythical figure (Heracles in his case, who was not a god). In terms of absolute power over a major part of the human population at the time, however, the Roman emperor (and his Chinese equivalent) were almost like gods.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_messiah_claimants, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah_claimants.
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome
[+] [-] rickmb|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Argorak|13 years ago|reply
* The all-out Mac/IPhone user that is constantly eying for B2G and some Linux desktops to finally hit the point where he wants to switch. * IPhone users complaining that Windows Phone hasn't taken off. * Windows users using OS X at work and being pleased by both...
I could go on and on. Once you start talking to all of those people, they will happily admit many advantages and flaws of their platforms. The problem is that once you picked one, people automatically assume that you dislike the other. You won't talk much about the nice little things of a platform that you don't use on a daily basis.
[+] [-] speedRS|13 years ago|reply
I really do want to be a Yahoo! fanboy too. Wish they would improve Flickr before I migrate to 500px.
[+] [-] geoka9|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pokoleo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] batiudrami|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Raphael|13 years ago|reply