Shake

Yeah, I liked 'em too when I was learning about them in school. The Greek mythology was always fun to learn about. It seemed like a good fantasy novel. But since modern science has eliminated the need for gods as explanations for natural phenomena, I don't see society heading back down that road again.

Ojuice5001

Shake,

The main explanatory use of the gods, in my worldview, is random events. We don't need Jupiter/Zeus to explain why lightning exists, but why does it strike here rather than there? The main three answers are determinism, supernaturalism, and true chance. Science is making universal determinism less tenable, and has lent little support to true chance.

Eudaimonist,

I may refer you to a list of
Roman Virtues .

Hinduwoman,

No more so than Christianity, Hinduism, or any other major religion.

Eudaimonist

These virtues seem, on the whole, to be very positive. I suppose the only one that I disappove of is Pietas, for obvious reasons. (And I'm not quite certain how to interpret Pudicita.)

I agree that a society based on these virtues is likely to be a good one.

bagong

I love little thought experimens like this:

There would be all the gods of classical Graeco-roman mythology and various "Latinised" local germanic/celtic/whatever deities. I doubt they would receive much popular worship, but I imagine people would think it important to maintain the temples and perform the traditional sacrifices/rites out of a sense of historical awareness and cultural pride, as well as for their weddings, funerals, and whatnots.

Then there would be the various ethical philosophical systems (neo-platonism, stoicism, epicurianism, etc.), which I imagine would have become the main form of religiosity during the Enlightenment. As they at most call for a vague kind of Deism, my guess is they would have coped with the modern world a lot better than Christianity has.

Finally there'd be dozens of Mysteries that I imagine would have had quite a revival in the late 20th century, taking in most of the people currently attracted to New Age/Wiccan/Eastern religions/etc.

And overall I think people would be a lot less anal about religion: I doubt the priests of Jupiter Capitolinus would feel the need to "witness" the glory of Jupiter to an initiate of the Orphic Mysteries, or that a materialist Epicurean would want to wear a No Minerva No Master t-shirt.

philechat

The modern East Asians are often quite similar to the Roman Pagans, in my opinion. They also perform religious rituals, but more as a hope for good fortune and whatnot, and seldom condemn others because the others belong to a different religion. People of different religions go to different temples to pray to different deities, and sometimes there are spectacular festivals centering more on feasting and drama, than on the actual "faith" in the gods per se.

My home's backyard is one of the "sacred lands", for the love of the gods . It does not trouble me at all compared to Christian churches.

Jayhawker Soule

I note that there's a fair number of lightning strikes in Texas today. Why is that?

Fiach

Let us assume that Paul was killed by Bedouin raiders while in Petra. He never spent 14 years in Tarsus, never invented the Mythical Christ. Life went on as usual. Greek philosophers continued to study the Earth and the Cosmos in Athens and Alexandria, and Persia. There was no Christian Church to impose a ban on scientific thought for a millennium. Hypatia was not murdered. That 1000 years of suppression never occurred.

This is speculation. An Illyrian would have invented the steam engine in 630 CE. A Gaul might have invented the internal combustion engine in 725 CE. A pair of Lusitanian brothers flew the first heavier than air vehicle on the coast near Lisbon in 760 CE. An Ostrogoth invented jet flight in 810 CE. A joint project with Rome and the Seminole Nation of Florida send a rocket around the world and place a satellite in orbit in 814 CE. In 830 CE, The Democratic Roman-Greek Republic lands sends a manned mission to land on the Moon, two Greeks, a Latin, and a Gaul.

Two Carthaginian scientists discover the DNA double helix in 620 CE. By 710 CE, the human genome is mapped and by 750 CE the function of each gene is discovered. By 830 CE, inherited disease and cancer are eliminated. Genes governing the frontal brain circuits and the limbic lobe are altered in 1000 CE making humans all maximally rational, thereby eliminating the last vestiges of religion and theism.

After establishing the Moon base in 900 CE, the Earth Federation, funds manned visits to Mars in 1000 CE. Meanwhile probes send in acid buffers and algae spores later in the terraforming of Venus. A permanent Mars colony is established in 1200 CE. From there they begin the terraforming of Mars and water from the Ice Caps and underground ice gradually turn Mars green with blue skies. Earth's crowded population emigrates by the hundreds of thousands to Mars. Meanwhile the clouds on Venus drop their sulfates, and water produced, falls as rain, producing the first shallow Venusian oceans. Temperatures drop below 100 degrees Celsius. Probes show rapid growth of green algae and measured oxygen at 2% by 1400 CE.

Medicine has eliminated inherited diseases, cancer, and auto-immune diseases with genetic engineering. Correction of secondary protein anomalies and enzyme deficits eliminates the "degenerative diseases" and efficient brain network wiring by genes has eliminated Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, and Religion. This produces a healthy population with a life expectancy in good condition to age 180 years. Birth control plus emigration to Mars keeps the population stable.

By 1600 Venus has an atmosphere with 20% Oxygen, small percentages of CO2 (2%), mostly Nitrogen, and an Ozone layer. Seeds planted by probes in 1450 CE have produced grasslands and forests, plus ocean plants. Scientists have cleared Venus for colonisation. By 1800 there are 40 Venusian colonies self-sufficient and welcoming more immigrants from Earth. Mars meanwhile becomes an Independent Planet with its own embassy in Rome.

Mars and Earth in a joint project in 1870 CE have produced a vehicle propelled by an antimatter generator and a space-time warp drive enabling faster than light travel. They launch probes to Alpha Centauri and three other stars with planetary systems. In 1920, they send manned mission to three planets in distant star systems. By 2003 CE, 8 solar systems have been colonised by Earth immigrants. They agree to form a United Planets Organisation in Geneva, Earth Union. A little known grandson of immigrants on Venus, named Kofi Annan is elected Secretary General of United Planets.

This is all a big joke of course, but one can speculate what might have happened with out Christianity and its 1000 year suppression of science.

Fiach

Ojuice5001

The contemporary idea of a clash between faith and reason started with Luther's opposition to the Scholastics' idea that faith and reason could be synthesized and work together as partners. Luther and other early Protestants wanted faith to be supreme, and then their opponents agreed with their thinking in terms of a clash between faith and reason, but they preferred reason. These opponents are your intellectual ancestors.

Pre-Christian Rome and Greece saw things more like a liberal theologian; they saw mythology and reason as addressing different aspects of reality. I say this position might well have continued.

I know you said your position was speculative; I'm just pointing out reasons to speculate that Roman mythology would not have died out, any more than the equally old Hindu mythology.

Ojuice5001

That's certainly a fair question. I went to some Corpus Christi newspaper's Web site, and discovered that that is the launching point for some military helicopters that are being deployed in Iraq, and their departure date is today. I therefore think that the lightning clouds were sent by Allah, in hopes of hitting one of the helicopters before it invades his realm. If you ask why the lightning isn't in the right spot to actually hit the helicopters, I think probably Yahweh or another Western god countered this influence, keeping lightning from hitting the helicopters or anything else especially important.

This is an (educated) guess rather than certain knowledge, of course. The point is to illustrate how I see the influence of the gods. BTW, the purpose of the helicopters is to detonate the enemy's sea mines.