> Many religions have been propagated through force of the sword. In many
> cases this proved to be an effective technique. If religion is such a
> profoundly intertwined aspect of a person's being, how were so many
> countries and regions "converted" permanently and effectively simply by
> force, even if occupation was relatively transient? This seems to be
> inconsistent with the supposed nature of religion.
I think the canonical example is Islam. Note that it didn't *force*
anybody to join the religion, its proponents just took power, removed
parts or the whole of the old leadership, and ruled without outlawing
other religions. But there is a definite "trickle-down effect" of the
religion of the rulers, both due to (I assume) a wish to be more like them
and get closer to them, and their actions which promote their own
religion (for example by building splendid mosques). After a while you
have a leading class of converts, and the religion will spread further.
As society becomes more and more dominated by one religion, its memes
will have a better chance to convert most people (except for the die-hards).
It should be noted that conquest tends to be traumatic for the conquered
people (how is that for an understatement?), so they might be more likely
to convert simply because they feel they will get better protection and
stability, and besides their old religion didn't help much. A Stockholm
syndrome on a national scale? Interesting... that might suggest why
forced conversions sometimes work too.
But I wonder how many religions have been spread this way? Christianity,
yes. Islam, yes. Judaism used a bit of local genocide when arriving from
Egypt and then tried to spread mainly by lineage, not by converting
people. Hinduism? I don't know, it seems too diffuse to be usefully
spread. Buddhism? Not as far as I know. Polytheism has never spread well,
except for the destruction/symbolic defeat of the god of the defeated
(think of Set).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y