21st April 2003, 8:33 PM
Am reading volume 2 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It appears mankind was actually quite rational prior to the introduction of Christianity, and religion was on its way out in the Empire (albeit not in places where a better system was implemented such as Persia; the Greco-Roman pantheon had always been a bit shaky). The Jewish "way of thought" that placed an enormous amount of faith and zeal in God and ultimate redemption was considered rather bizarre until Christianity spread it across Europe, Africa and the Near East. Pliny and several other wisemen of those times were asking precisely the same of Christian leaders as Darunia, Jellybean, ABF and co. are doing right now: to justify their faith. I'm getting the vibe they didn't get an acceptable answer.