I'm glad that there are so many atheists here, that means more place (and virgins) in heaven for people like me!
It's a bit silly to say 'if not for christianity we'd have progress' because you have places like japan and china which had fuck all to do with christianity and yet still don't have moon bases. Technological advancement has very little to do with secularism and quite a lot to do with necessity, one of the best things for advancement is war, and religions can start an awful lot of wars, so it could easily be argued that religion helps progress rather than hinders it.
I always was under the impression that the dark ages were mostly brought about by the fall of rome, and everyone's subsequent obsession with thinking roman stuff was the absolute pinnacle of wisdom. Religious institutions were probably the highest centres of learning at the time because they were the ones doing all the book writing and copying. It's when people stopped thinking rome was the shit that we got progress, honestly you can probably view the entire dark ages as the socioeconomic equivalent of post-breakup depression.
The Islamic world didn't have many wars until the Catholics started their completely political religious wars there, and those Islamic countries were in their golden ages before the crusades, now it's all a huge war zone with much backwards progress. Also, religion does attempt to hinder progress, like when Galileo claimed that the earth wasn't the center of the universe, he was executed for that, by the church. Japan and China were the worlds most technologically advanced nations for a good portion of the last millennium. They may not have been the first in space, but they sure did have gunpowder, paper money, and philosophy before a great many other nations.
I love how when it's a completely unserious thread the empires community will not only stay on topic but actually start a serious discussion.
? I'm fairly sure the muslims and eastern religions prior to islam were having plenty of fun fighting each other and the jews without christianity contributing anything. And yeah, china and japan invented some cool stuff. Then they did fuck all for six or seven hundred years. Sure as hell wasn't christianity that caused that.
I know, right? thats why I'm just telling them to fuck off and entertain me with more pics! so again, PICS OR GET THE FUCK OUT!
You got that right... This community is awesome isn't it? Also in order for me to stay on topic... Speaking of magic.... That is... if you ever played any of those games.
? Islam is a comparatively recent religion, I think it's actually younger than christianity, think the primary religion in the middle east before that would probably be zoroastrianism. Until it got mostly wiped out by the muslims invading iran. About four or five centuries before the first crusade.
This has got to be an April fools joke, I mean, out of all people in this world you can't make that error. Islam preceding Christianity, and the fact you said that the muslims prior to islam... this is all an April fools joke.
What? No, islam is YOUNGER than christianity. Meaning it has been around LESS TIME than christianity. And I said EASTERN RELIGIONS PRIOR TO ISLAM. As in religions which AREN'T ISLAM. Jesus fucking christ learn to fucking read before you complain about me being wrong you horrible little mental defective.
He is from Kansas. They only teach creationism and abstinence... Oh shit, abstinence sex is just like real sex!