First Post & Introduction

Hi, this blog is where I talk about religion from my secular standpoint. I'm somewhat friendly towards certain kinds of paganism (polytheism, ancestor worship), as well as to nontheistic Buddhism, but not so sympathetic towards the monotheistic religions. I was taught at school that the shift from polytheism to monotheism was a step forward in intellectual sophistication and in civilization more generally. Now, I think it was the opposite. Monotheism, with its totalitarian, anti-intellectual tendencies, destroyed most of the great achievements of ancient Greco-Roman civilization, suppressed learning, and issued in the Dark Ages. The Christianization of Rome was to that Empire what Mao's Cultural Revolution was to China, only worse, and longer lasting in its destructive effects.

Useful relevant link: Kenneth Humphreys has compiled Putting the Dark into the Dark Age, an excellent summary of how Christianity put European civilization back for many centuries, and is likely to be rather shocking, if you're unfamiliar with the information it contains. It gives a good picture of the narrowminded nature of monotheism.