Morality

[Peter44]

I'm unfamiliar with the history of the Pacific Islands, from what you've put forward it sounds like they had a good thing going and it got trashed (no surprise). However, the notion that early religions that focused more on goddesses were peaceful or somehow softer is not the picture that the archaeological record of N. Europe (for example) presents. Military fortifications and weapons were prevalent before the rise of god (as opposed to goddess) centered cultures, preference was given to males in burial (and their graves were lavish compared to the pits we find the females in), in fact, many of the myths that survive from these religions describe women who are sought out precisdely for their expertise in battle, and the goddesses associated are often best described as purely malevolent. The picture painted by archaeology (at least in N. Europe) is one of the cast of deities changing, while the rest of their lives seems to have been business as usual, going all the way back to the neolithic.

There is simply nothing that we've dug up that would lead us to believe in this peaceful goddess culture theory. I mention Marija Gimbutas because she is easily the most prolific author on this subject (and was one of it's earliest proponents). Her theories have received massive amounts of criticism, not on her observations, but upon the conclusions she drew from them. There was a large goddess culture in N. Europe, but it was no less warlike or dominated by males than any of the more paternalistic religions that followed. Firstly, I wouldn't call women "the weak" but to use that sentiment; the archaeological record shows us that throughout history the weak have never been given more than lip service. If these cultures were dominated by women, they were dominated by powerful women who commanded bands of warriors to mercilessly slaughter their foes and enact gruesome ritual murders to appease their goddesses. Great book I've linked here that discusses how researchers political leanings and ideologies crept into our understanding of the past.

http://www.amazon.com/Knossos-Prophets-M...0226289532

Your making a point about war as if it was in some way bad. In fact protecting yourself is good.

Fighting for your own group against others is also good and woman's place in that certainly show they took part if not as equals because of physical weakness (I am not too PC to say it).

I dont dispute that slaughter and violence were not widespread in prehistory nor that women took part in it. I am suggesting that you have to have it in context and in fact just saying war and violence is bad is far from the case. Nor does it preclude societies being peaceful and having equality within them. Your interpretation of the past is well clouded by your immersion in the present.

Looking again at Pacific Island cultures which are often matriarchal and matrilineal. Malinowski certainly suggest that such societies involved better care of children and elderly by males than was evident in modern western cultures.

So stick by point which in fact was a very small part of my post on religion and morality.