The Influence Of Religion In Early Empires, Civilizations

Religion played a huge influence in the development of western civilization so a good place to start is the medieval times. Charles Martel, mayor of the franks stopped the Muslim invasion from much of Europe at the battle of tours so there was little Muslim influence to the western civilization. This allowed a very powerful Christian Church to emerge and religion to flourish. Religion was very important for the middle ages and in reality it became the most powerful force in Europe. The teachings and practices played a major part in reshaping the lives of the European Christians. One of the most important achievements of the Church was to Christianize the diverse people in Western Europe. Religion influenced the development of western civilization through Monks and Nuns, power, reforming to change the church, and corruption against other nations.

Pluralism attracted the most negative attention to the Church of the 1400-1500s because when Church-appointed officials did not show up to their benefices, leading to the lack of responsibilty of the Church officials. Immorality was mostly neglect of the rule of celibacy, however immorality was not entirely sexual transgressions, there was also clerical drunkenness, gambling, and indulgence in fancy dress. Ignorance was the lack of education, as many priests were barely able to read or write. Finally, in regard to pluralism or absenteeism, many clerics had benefices, but rarely ever visited them, let alone performed the religious duties the offices entailed, this led to the attracton of the most negative attention.

As civilization has expanded and improved it has gone through many different religions. Some of the most interesting and different have been the Mesopotamian religion, the religion of the Greeks and finally Christianity. These three religions were practiced in different areas and different time periods and therefore they will be excellent for a comparison. Religion is a key part of every society and civilization. No matter how it is organized or what type of God they worship, a society would be nothing without some kind of deity to organize it. Through the units of study the amount that people rely on Gods has been evident and that is why this makes a very good essay topic. Three areas of religion will be

Religion had an enormous impact on almost all aspects of life in the medieval world. In the Christian belief, the first two people that were created by God were Adam and Eve. They were provided with a paradise to live in,the garden of Eden, and were only given one rule that they had to follow to not eat from the tree of good and evil. If they did eat fruit from the tree, then they would have to leave the paradise. Eve was tempted by Satan, and ate the fruit. She then gave some of that fruit to Adam, and they were banned from the garden. For this reason, women were seen as dangerous temptresses. This story showed that women were morally weaker, and were likely to lead their spouses into sin. They became known as the “weaker” sex, for it was a woman who first consumed the fruit in the Garden of Eden.

From the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the Muslim world, antiquity has always been filled with religions of all sorts. These religions helped guide how ancient peoples lived life and came about doing even the most common tasks that people like us do today. Religion impacted the civilizations of the ancient world by greatly influencing how peoples of ancient civilizations acted, how they thought about the world around them, how civilizations were organized and maintained, and how they interacted with civilizations of another religion.

"It is probable that ancestor worship is by all means the oldest stage of the belief in spiritual beings, and that from this belief originated the primitive conceptions of the state of man after death. Thence it comes that the oldest social divisions of mankind, the family and the gens, have doubtless originated with many peoples from the worship of ancestors (Stade 1888:406)."

Religion had a large effect on violence that broke out within the two empires. Within Islam, two sects reigned supreme. The Sunni and the Shiite. The Sunni believe that Muhammad's bloodline is not the rightful heir to becoming a caliph. Sunni believe that the next Caliph should be voted upon by the Islamic people based on merit. The Shiite believe that Muhammad's bloodline should reign supreme and the Caliphates should only follow lineage. This diametrical opposition directed the Sunni and Shiite to despise one another. Because of these conflicting ideals, riots, attacks, murders, and bloodshed occurred between the two sects. This raging controversy has continued to modern day. Christianity in the Byzantine Empire had bloodshed and destruction

​The decline of the classical empires contributed several ingredients to the spread of what turned out to be two great world religions – Christianity and Buddhism. Before this, most religions had been regional. The fading of the great empires – due to the reshuffling of geographical boundaries, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific – caused the regional confinement of religion to be modified dramatically. There was also a political decline that encouraged people to turn towards spiritual organizations.

There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:

Originally published through a series of entries in a magazine, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells is one of the earliest works of fiction that deal with extra-terrestrial creatures. Written at the end of the 19th century, the story depicts an alternative present where Earth is invaded by Martians and humans must fight back for survival. The novel was later adopted to the big screen in 1953 after undergoing some modification, namely the spatiotemporal setting was changed from Great Britain at the end of the 19th century to at the time present day United States. Assuming the movie stays truthful to the author’s message, what role did religion have in The War of the Worlds?

The Old World opinions of the wilderness were rooted in fear and ignorance of what laid beyond unexplored lands. The irrational and misguided fear of the wilderness were rooted in folklore and mythological stories that labeled the wild as the enemy of survival. The minds of the Europeans were perverted by conceptions of the wild saturated with dangerous and even demonic images. Juxtaposed to these fears were a set of beliefs that designated the wilderness as a source of opportunity and favor from the Lord. Some saw the wilderness as a gift from the Lord and believed that it was their duty to explore and flourish in it. These antithetical set of beliefs both permeated Old World society and dominated how they interacted with their surroundings.

Religion can invade, conquer, and rule masses of people far more effectively and efficiently than any empire or conqueror. This is not to spark a heated discussion about religions. Its purpose is, to say that, even though it is highly debatable whether religions are false or true, most of them serve a very basic purpose of establishing morals and values. Early religions were used as a source of power and economic growth. Even if one doesn’t believe in or agree with the teachings of any religion, history shows proof that it creates a sense of order. There are many religions in the past that have brought order and civilized conduct to large numbers of people, not through military conquest, but through the promise of reward or the fear of punishment. Religion is the glue that binds local communities into nationhood and creates common understandings and shared values that are essential to the growth of a civilization. No religion is fully formed at its start, so why did some religion play such a big role in growth of the Ancient Civilizations.

In controlling an empire, force can only go so far. It is far easier to make the conquered accept their overlord’s administration instead of resisting it. To serve this purpose throughout history, intelligent leaders have often used religion as a powerful tool to assert their legitimacy, and make their subjects believe that they had a right to rulership.

There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:

They became the cornerstone of many earlier and later civilizations. Even today many countries, especially those in the Middle East, have religious leaders who work with the government to enact laws and “guide” the spiritual aspect of the lives of their citizens. Unfortunately, with such strong beliefs and convictions can come conflict. This conflict can be on a small scale, such as discrimination against those who don’t share the same beliefs to full-scale war which was the case in the first Crusades. In more recent times we have seen mass genocides of people based in part on religious beliefs such as the annihilation of the Jews during the Second World War. Today we see it played out in acts of terrorism, jihads. Religion is a powerful tool that can be used both to help and enrich the lives of people or used as justification for intolerance against others.