• TimeSquirrel@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    It's about control. Organized religion was created in a time of ancient expanding empires, and not having the resources to police remote areas of their territory, they turned to mass brainwashing instead to keep people in line.

    Often, the main ruler would be second to the religion's deity(s) and were considered divine themselves. This was to give the rulers legitimacy.

    • agent_flounder@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Exactly. As an example, that's the reason monotheism was made a state religion and the books of the Septuagint were assembled from religious writings and traditions of north and south Judea. (God has multiple titles corresponding to different gods of each region, two creation stories, the flood myth tracing back to Mesopotamia, the anachronistic tales of conquest, and the overall theme of sticking to one religion or else).