Quote:That almost makes sense to me - or at least I can see how one can come to this point of view. But how, for example, do you know, that you got better education and not the others? I also did not say, that NO education was provided by monasteries but that education would have been better and available to a broader range of people without the dark ages.
About your last point: This is actually a reason (if valid) why people should believe in an angry god - but it is definitely NO reason for the existence of god. It is always very dangerous to make people believe unreasonable things just because a self-appointed elite considers it good for everyone. So in a way, I am less pessimistic than you are - I 'believe' that telling people the truth is a good thing that will finally help anyone living on this planet. Censorship and make-believe are two things I strongly decline.
I never said i had "better" education i just said i "may have". By that i mean that my school had good ratings and was considered to have a very good program. However if you read my post you can see that i did not boldly state that i had a better education than everyone else.
Also what proof do you have for the Dark Ages having anything to do with religion ? How can you say that without religion they wouldnt have happened ? It is too easy to state that.
In France, at the start of the Renaissance era, the King considered himself appointed by God, essentially blending Church and State together. But this period also saw the expansion of science, medicine and art.