Were religions historically charity based?

[_The Nehor]

Religion being the world oldest profession had its roots in supply and demand.

Wait.....religion is prostitution?

[_Aristotle Smith]

I don't count as part of the LDS church then?

No.

My favorite of them is Zechariah. Trippier then Revelation.

Good for you. However, a single data point is hard to generalize from.

[_Hoops]

The Salvation Army is both a charity and a denomination

[_The Nehor]

I don't count as part of the LDS church then?

No.

My favorite of them is Zechariah. Trippier then Revelation.

Good for you. However, a single data point is hard to generalize from.

So we have one assertion that it is so and one data point suggesting it is not. I think the issue is still up in the air don't you?

[_Bond James Bond]

The charitable part of organized religion probably grew out of cash donations and offerings given to various temples meant to placate the Gods. Since the offerings were metaphorical (I doubt Heracles or Jupiter Optimus Maximus actually took the coins and spent them) the donations were gathered up by temple priests and cared for. Money went toward maintaining temples, some was used for financial gain for the temple (banking/lending was often carried out by religious orders), and some went towards helping the suffering of the poor. Eventually private (wealthy) individuals within the religions expanded to giving to the poor, as an extension of placating the Gods, and the giving was canonized within the religious dogma itself.

[_zeezrom]

Aristotle,

Thank you.

When I was in southeast Asia, I learned that Buddhist Monks were often orphans or guys that had nowhere else to go. The religion gave them purpose and a responsibility. This is something to take note of.

[_CaliforniaKid]

Zeezrom,

I guess it depends upon how you define morality.

Nearly all ancient religions included behavioral taboos and directives, but they were different and differently-legitimized in each religion. In most religions, the taboos were things that offended nature, ancestors, spirits, and deities. Each religion, however, had a different concept of why taboo behavior was offensive. For Christians and Zoroastrians, behavioral prescriptions were understood in terms of a metaphysical dualism between good and evil. In Confucianism and Greco-Roman paganism, they tended to be understood in terms of piety and impiety. In Vedic, Hebrew, and Avestan religion, the concept was purity and impurity. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the concept was dharma and adharma.

All of these systems differ from modern philosophical ethical systems, which tend to be grounded in ideas of personal, social, and evolutionary utility. In these systems, moral behavior is rationally advantageous behavior. Religions sometimes join philosophical concepts of ethics with their own distinctively religious ones. On the flip side, philosophical ethicists sometimes attempt to embed their ethical systems in a "civil religion" in order to give their prescriptions greater gravitas. But in the end, the interface always seems a bit uncomfortable.

Peace,

-Chris

[_moksha]

Wait.....religion is prostitution?

No, religion is not to be confused with Congressional prayer breakfasts.

[_zeezrom]

Thank you Chris!

[_Buffalo]

Religion being the world oldest profession had its roots in supply and demand.

Wait.....religion is prostitution?

Now you're getting it.