World Without Christianity

When I was watching the Joan of Arc film, I noticed the immense power that the Catholic Church had over the lives of the people back then, and the state. If you stop to consider how immensely influential the Catholic Church had over the history of that time period, and by extension, Christianity, it's almost immeasurable.

There is a certain genre of fiction that I am particularly fond of: Alternate History. Basically, it's as its name implies, a narrative involving the history of the world if something in history had happened differently. For an example, take the lack of Christianity. Whoa. Needless to say, that change would be immense. I've been thinking about the incredible potential of such a change. 

While not going into how, the differences of such a world would be enoromous. For one thing, one could argue that the Roman Empire would not have been so weak against German invaders because of Christianity's weakening of traditional Roman military values with a focus of a kingdom in heaven. However, it could be said that Christianity, being a more advanced religion than most pagan ones, fulfills a certain internal need, so Roman religion might eventually evolve to involve these things. I would imagine that it evolve into something like the Greco-Roman Mystery Religions, especially the ones involving Dionysus and the Egytian Osiris.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Religion

I would imagine that without any Christianity, there may not have been the Dark Ages for Europe, as the Roman Empire would have remained intact to an extent, and intellectual development could have continued as they had for the pas thousand years. That could have made the modern world extremely advanced. The defining feature, I think, though, of this Modern Roman society would be its morals. It would not have any concept of the Christian idea of 'love one another' or a 'kingdom in heaven'. It would have been extremely unequal and hedonistic (pleasure loving). All in all, it would be fascinating to see, I think.

Even more fascinating though, would be how the Germanic (and by extension, Norse) races would have developed without Christianity. I can think that a society that developed that already valued glory in battle and violence (remember Beowulf?) would have that same need to have a more advanced religion as the Romans. This could lead to some interesting scenarios. I think that perhaps the Germanic tribes would have eventually been unified into a Nazi-like state worship, emphasizing above all the the glory of dying for the nation (I could see a leader claiming to be Odin incarnate or something). Maybe instead it would be less organized and would resemble extremist Islam with the concept of Jihad. The morals of this society would be drastically different than it is in our society.

I am not sayin that my ideas definitively would happen. These are just my ideas. What do you think? What do you think would happen if there were no Christianity in the world? To the Romans? To the Germans? To the Middle Easterns? Feel free to speculate.

The Future

So, I've been thinking. Regardless of your opinion on what's happening in the stock market, it can generally be argued that this is worthy of the history books. That makes me think another thought. If it does turn into a depression, what next? What would the long-term effects of something like that be? Would people be fed up with capitalism, making way for a socialist revolution? Would it take another World War to end it? 

Basically, what I'm asking you to do is hypothesize about the future, and how this century will turn out.  When people talk about the future, at least for me, the image of the Jetsons and perhaps a hoverboard comes to mind. I know for a  fact that it will be more than just that. Take this oppurtunity to hypothesize madly about the future, the more unique they are the better. Imagine it not just politically, but technologically and culturally, if you feel the urge.

Learning is Good, Especially for Jeopardy

This is my homework assignment tonight: Hope you, whoever you are, find it entertaining.

So, the reasons I should give a ...[darn]... about world history:

• History teaches you patterns to recognise in current events. History DOES repeat itself, after all.
• People constantly reference history in speeches, talks and that kind of stuff. You know, the Iraq War being a crusade and all that.
• Tests. You need to know history to pass tests to get into colleges to lead a successful life. Face it, we live in a class society: the educated vs. the uneducated. People who get, or don't get money, respectively.
• Conversation: Educated people who talk about history in your presence may ask your opinion on, say, the authorship of supposed Shakespeare plays. Responding not knowing what Shakespeare is could lower your social status.
• Trivia TV Shows/Board Games: A problem of money and fun, while the first may not come up often for you, it will be helpful to know history in order to go far (or just watching it at home.) And in less profitable games, like, say, Trivial Pursuit, you will want to know certain historical things.

Now, a lot of the reasons for the following literature, language arts and geography will be similar to the above reasons. I will reference them in a brief manner.

Literature

• Literature often has valuable lessons in philosophy, ethics or just life. Reading them can help you.
• TV and Movies: In these days of Beowulf: The Movie, and Crusoe: The televisions series (on NBC, Fridays this October!), adaptions of novels in forms of media (with sequels...and remakes) overpower original ideas at the box office (I think). It is often good to be familiar with the story so you can mock the makers of the movie when they do something stupid and away from the original plot.
• Literature (or reading of any kind) often increases your vocabulary. A 3D graph of your vocabulary after reading a bunch of novels would seem to be subconically increasing (look it up.)
• Writing: If you have any intention of being a writer, reading literature should be of paramount importance. It will not only give you good examples of good writing, but it will also give you ideas.
  
• Tests
  
• Conversation
• Trivia TV Shows/Board Games

Language Arts

• Learning Language Arts in one language can help you learn more efficiently another one. eg. What a direct object is.
• Understanding People: Often times (hypothetically), you will come across someone (probably with an unfamiliar accent) that you just don't understand. Learning language arts can help you recognise patterns which will help you understand them.
• Cryptograph-thingies: Do you know when you see those puzzles where every letter is replaced by a symbol or a different letter? I don't remember what they're called, but the key to solving them is recognising patterns - exactly what Language Arts can teach you.
• Vocabulary
• Tests

Geography

• It is usually advisable to be competent when it comes to geography just to avoid ridicule. You don't want to be pointing to Australia when being asked to point to Iraq.
• I suppose it could be considered offensive to not be aware of someone's national identity or culture if they come to the United States and talk to you. You would be considered ignorant (go America). It would be even more so if you came to them in their home turf.
• Careers: Many careers require an advanced knowledge of geography, the US Government being a prime example. You could also make a lot of money by making maps, I've heard.
• Tests
• Conversations
• Trivia TV Shows/Board Games