WVK Wrote:
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> Belief in moral-watching, all-knowing, punitive
> gods might have helped human societies grow far
> beyond small, close-knit groups, a new study
> shows. Researchers who ran an experiment with a
> total of 591 people in eight different small-scale
> societies around the world found that people who
> believed their deity of choice knew about their
> misdeeds and would punish them were more likely to
> play fairly in a game where money was on the
> line.
>

Hmm so for any given cultural group X, if belief in the omniscient, omnipresent judge wanes, then the culture itself wanes & ends over a period time?

Example: The Romans in their expansionistic prime were devout - of various faiths perhaps, but devout - and they were not during their decline into empire and dissolution.

Example: Vikings who were at first devout and explored, almost literally, every possible nook and corner they could reach... until their beliefs were diluted/replaced and the culture waned.

Just a theory ;0 but it seems to fit.
Ignore the present day please -- no sense in obfuscating the theory with present day biases -- biases of historical perspectives are bad enough ;0

Also, I suppose there are examples of war devastating cultural beliefs to the point of shattering them, but hte culture didn't exactly wane and die, but rather adapted and adopted the conquerors belief systems (ancient Japan?)