@SpukiKitty02 #114528
Regrettably, I don’t have much to contribute on those historical questions. (I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more than a grain of truth to the words found in Gore Vidal’s Julian: “History is idle gossip about a happening whose truth is lost the instant it has taken place.”) However, I can direct you to the works of the late Dr. Hector Avalos, a former child preacher, atheist Bible scholar and professor who was very much concerned with such topics. Among other things, he called for an end to Biblical studies and held that any text that endorses any kind of unwarranted violence (whether in a literal or figurative sense) does not deserve any moral authority. He has also addressed some of the points you’ve raised.
Here is a lecture on the connection between religion and violence (where he delineates his theory of scarcity):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhz9k1lsijU
And one on the impact of archaeology on Biblical history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP5LdELd_0o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiiPK-FXicc
Perhaps you won’t find his arguments convincing, but I think you will at least get some food for thought.
I think Chris Hedges (an example of the type of religious believer that I was alluding to) was onto something when he indicated that the “recent surge in wingnuttery” can be attributed in no small part to the economic devastation that has visited countless people. When you have hordes of desperate people with little left to lose, it’s only a matter of time until you get someone like Trump to step in and herd them in dangerous directions.
I’ve long been an admirer of the Nordic model (at least as far as I understand it), though some would contend that much of its success comes at the expense of the Third World. Also, piecemeal rollback of the welfare state has apparently been going on for some time.
Article: The Danish Illusion: The Gap Between Principle and Practice in the Danish Welfare System
Be that as it may, I think the Scandinavian countries are a particularly compelling argument for the thesis that there is a strong correlation between high living standards and high levels of tolerance (religious and otherwise).
In order to get to where you want to go, I think it will be imperative to attain and maintain, on a global scale, high levels of education (both in the humanities and the sciences), high levels of economic development, and high levels of general equality, among other things. Unfortunately, with half of the world’s wealth in the clutches of less than 1% of humanity (along with a host of other, not very encouraging indicators), we are obviously nowhere near that point. But one could still dream.
Character alone is what counts.
Indeed. (A certain line from MLK’s famous speech comes to mind.)
“Do no harm” will be how something is judged.
This brings to mind Shelly Kagan’s simple formula of “Don’t harm, and do help”, which I see much merit in.