I recall a similar conclusion, though arrived at via a different chain of thought, by an author whose name escapes me (Alvaro? Alvarez? sorry). If I recall correctly, this fellow took the economic principle of scarcity and extended it to religion as an explanation of why religions almost always include violence as part and parcel of their metric.
The argument runs more or less as follow:
Human beings are intrinsically sensitive to the scarcity of necessary resources, such as food, water, shelter, etc. It doesn't matter if the scarcity of such is real, artificial or even imagined. The perception of scarcity tends to make people twitchy.
Religion automatically creates artificial/imagined scarcities of salvation, afterlife, divine blessings and so forth. So, just as when scarcity of water may lead human beings to fight, so the scarcity of salvation can do the same. If your tribe worships god A who promises salvation while the neighbouring tribe worships god B who promises salvation, the perception is that god B and his followers are lessening your tribe's access to salvation. Since you can't get at god B to destroy him, your options are to either convert or to destroy god B's followers. Destruction is generally the easier path.
Since religious people tend to view divine favour as an exceedingly important resource, the perceived scarcity of it has almost no options but to lead to violence. The notion of 'We're right and you're wrong' is virtually universal, especially when it comes to religion. (it is an open question as to whether religious people resort to violence because of or in spite of their specific religious tenets, but I don't think that matters much - the end result is identical).
And - for the record - Buddhists don't get a pass.
Boru
The argument runs more or less as follow:
Human beings are intrinsically sensitive to the scarcity of necessary resources, such as food, water, shelter, etc. It doesn't matter if the scarcity of such is real, artificial or even imagined. The perception of scarcity tends to make people twitchy.
Religion automatically creates artificial/imagined scarcities of salvation, afterlife, divine blessings and so forth. So, just as when scarcity of water may lead human beings to fight, so the scarcity of salvation can do the same. If your tribe worships god A who promises salvation while the neighbouring tribe worships god B who promises salvation, the perception is that god B and his followers are lessening your tribe's access to salvation. Since you can't get at god B to destroy him, your options are to either convert or to destroy god B's followers. Destruction is generally the easier path.
Since religious people tend to view divine favour as an exceedingly important resource, the perceived scarcity of it has almost no options but to lead to violence. The notion of 'We're right and you're wrong' is virtually universal, especially when it comes to religion. (it is an open question as to whether religious people resort to violence because of or in spite of their specific religious tenets, but I don't think that matters much - the end result is identical).
And - for the record - Buddhists don't get a pass.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
