That's a cute story but its really just self-serving pablum. You'd
have a lot of trouble actually proving that, and there's lots of
evidence to the contrary.

Europe had a very stable, peaceful population before the Roman Empire
converted to Christianity. It had a peaceful population before the
Roman Empire. True, there were periodic "empires" that came and went
down through the eons, but for the most part humans have formed
peaceable societies. When there is little population pressure, and
modest trade, there is little "empire building." When empires are
created, they invariably impose order and ethical systems, usually
more effectively than our modern systems.

Moreover, it *is* the "Natural Law" of humans to form religions with
associated ethical systems. Virtually all human groups around the
world have formed their own religion - its one of the constants of
humanity. I don't believe this in any way "proves" the existence of
God, but it does mean that every culture has its own version of
morality.

(As an aside, I also think that within any group there will be those
who need to believe in God, and would make one up if a suitable one
did not exist in their culture, and there are those who would never
accept it. Thus there will always be fundamentalists and atheists
among us; in fact you'd find some of each at any religious gathering!
Just human nature.)

However, not all religions are the same. While most are accepting of
other religions, a few are insistent that their particular "path to
salvation" is the only viable one, and that everyone else is an
infidel. This becomes a religious foundation for conquest and
colonization. The two major proponents of this are Christianity and
Islam. The global war we seem to be on the verge of is a natural
consequence of the "morality" of these two religions.

just my 2 cents



katy wrote:
My 2 cents Worth:

It's very easy for some to say that religion lays no part in their lives
and that they live good, moral and decent lives because they choose to
do so. The truth of the matter is that the majority of people with
European backgrounds have had centuries of religion pounded into them.
By that fact, anyone now is simply reacting off the virtues of his
forefathers in regards to autonomous goodness. If religion and its'
tenants faded for several ventruies, or abolished altogether for a long
while, eventually the moral climate would change. Natural law would also
change to suit the environment that people live in. What we consider
natural law, not to murder, some sort of fair monogamous.polygamous
relationships, not stealing from those who have nothing, would all go
down the tubes. If the world was overpopulated at that point, natural
law would revert ot kill off the lowest layers, get rid of the
slough...so don't think religion doesn't touch your life just because
you choose not to practice or accept..without it man would survive a
completely different existence.