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Comment by bengovero | Hacker News Reader

Religion, especially Judeo-Christianity, has existed longer than any empire, philosophy or worldview. It will outlive western modern secularism too. Only our groupthink and hubris leads us to believe otherwise.

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The Western philosophical tradition is at least 600 years older than Christianity, and the Indian philosophical tradition is at least 400 years older than Rabbinic Judaism (i.e., the religious tradition that we recognize in modern Judaism).

There might be other reasons to privilege religions and faith over other epistemologies, but seniority isn't one of them.

Well I wrote this quickly, and shouldn't have used the word philosophy. I was intending to point towards things like materialism and modernism more than _all_ of developed western philosophy.

I agree. Look at religion in China - despite being incredibly secular during the Communist period, religion is starting to return despite a good deal of government resistance.

It seems like cheating to make a statement like this using "Judeo-Christianity". Judaism seems like a pretty different philosophy or worldview from Christianity. And, of course, both have evolved over time based on the needs of their adherents and the whims of their leaders.

Many Christians would say they are part of spiritual Israel (or spiritual Jews). I don't think its unfair to pair them together like that. Christians just believe in the New Testament and that Jesus Christ is/was the prophesied Messiah from the old Testament.

China is older. So is India. Your statement is why education helps secularization; then religious propaganda is not effective any more.

You qualified secularism there. How is western modern secularism different from plain ole secularism?

Well, I'm no academic, but things like modernism, materialism, and scientism as epistemology would be distinguishing factors.

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