This is the third article examining the ideas of Conservative Swede, a blogger who frequently posts at Gates of Vienna. The first and second articles can be found here and here.
While searching through Con Swede’s archives, I found a few other noteworthy ideas that I thought were worth sharing…
On the origin of religion…
"Religion seems to me to have been a clever civilizational invention. In the days when humans lived as hunters and gatherers, we can imagine a leadership of muscles. Change of leadership happened when the alpha-male was challenged by one of the younger ones that had grown strong enough. This sort of leadership could only perform the basic function of protection. It could only lead a smaller group. It lacked the intellectual substance to create more organized and larger communities.
"Religious myths have probably always been part of human societies. But it is not until religion grows stronger--which leads to work-up of symbols, leading to hieroglyphs and alphabet--that more organized societies become possible. It's hard to see how intellectual leadership could have been introduced without religion. How would the weak guys with the books be able to challenge the leader of muscles, without a really big guy on their side? A giant symbolic leader, much more powerful and stronger than the leader of muscles. Polytheism was replaced by monotheism, which allowed for building a more solid hierarchy, since there is only one top. And allowed for the intellectual leadership to outbalance the leadership of muscles.
On America and Christianity…
"If Christianity is going to be saved it's only the Americans who can do it. Only the Americans have the imperative to redefine Christianity into something that is strong enough to meet the future."
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