Xtort Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Anyone have any good resources on this? It seems to me the two are very closely linked. The first governments spawned out of the priesthood literally, and it is only very recently that governments were not supposedly ordained by some kind of god. Governments have the symbology, the chanting, the appeals to a higher power. Just looking for some concrete sources to back me up if I'm correct....it almost seems to me as if statism literally is a religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChainsofFear Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Right or wrong, it's food for thought - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_management_theory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King David Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 The first governments sprang up from mafia, or organized crime. Like I have pointed out in my previous content, organized crime began to a large degree with trash removal. On one hand it developed organizationally to a point where cities could grow in size because these organizations were capable of servicing more and more communities. On the other hand they had more people dependant on them. At least in those times there was a semblance of free market so they by default had to respect their clientele in some measure, and they could not simply rob people blind because there would be no money left in the system. The relationship between government and religion has always been very tenuous, and temporal. The series Rome has an interesting scene portraying the freshly triumphant dictator Julius Caesar bribing the local priest for public blessings. The priest tells Caesar about the extravagant pallet of his wife and how she likes to eat only oysters. Caesar throws out a number and the priest replies that his wife's appetite for oysters is far greater than that small number could afford her. They barter a deal and Caesar's government was publicly endorsed and legitimized by the priest. I suspect that this was more or less how kings have been anointed by the Vatican for most of European history. KD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
... Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lians Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 There you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Right_of_Kings For a lovely historical analysis: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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