1 new of 293 responses total.
The China theory you're talking about isn't necessarily true, but it's
certainly intriguing.
Re #232: This thread started with me saying that there was no good reason
to pick up religious beliefs from the most fractious and un-
peaceable region of the world. Your response was that industry
and nationalism came about because people followed those particular
religions. I (and others) rebutted that by pointing out that many
polytheistic cultures overcame tribalism, and that technological
developments weren't the exclusive province of the Biblical
religions.
If you want to rebut that argument, you can't do it by showing that
Christians also made technological developments; we aren't denying
that they did. We're just saying that Judeo-Christian-Moslem
belief wasn't a necessary prerequisite. Good luck rebutting that
one given the historical record. Sure, they invented stuff -- but
so have polytheists, so monotheism clearly wasn't a requirement.
You have several choices: