Chapter One
Common Roots
Many of the earliest civilizations believed in a plurality of gods. From
the ruins and temples of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt in the
Middle East and Greece and Rome in Europe to India and China in the
Far East, the majority of early civilizations worshiped a pantheon of
gods, with each god ruling over a sector of the universe and all of them
ruled by a greater God. Representing their gods in the forms of statues,
early people practiced idolatry, worshiping the gods' physical representations.
HE WHO CARVES THE BUDDHA NEVER WORSHIPS HIM
In such societies, the pharaoh, emperor, caesar, or king was generally
regarded as divine, a son of God, and the priestly class (like the Brahmins
in India) a privileged one that supported his function as semidivine.
Worldly society ref ...
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