What if Judaism -- Christianity --Islam never existed?

[srvfan]

Say God decided not to reveal himself to men, and leave them to their own devices?

This should be a historical discussion only, okay?

Say the three never existed, hmm...

[ApologiaPhoenix]

Heaven would be empty and Earth would be Hell.

[One Bad Pig]

You could've just stopped with Judaism.

[BillTBC]

Why would he have made us anyway?

[Sheepdog]

You'd be visiting your local temple prostitute in hopes that your local god might bless your field with fertility.

Seriously. If the Abrahamic faiths weren't responsible for modern societies to flourish, they at least made them possible by destroying the pagan superstitions in their spheres of influence.

Even Islam played a part. They preserved the Greek philosophers until the Renaissance.

[Paintbucket]

Well, Western Civilization would be vastly different than today. The ancient Hebrews were a prototype for the West. The Greeks and Romans were closer in roots to the beginnings of Western Civilization, but the Hebrews played an important role. The Arabs of the 700's-1400's preserved Greek culture, and the Roman Empire changed quite drastically with the adoption of Christianity, which changed the rest of the world. Christianity is a big reason why we have an advanced society, it's just something about the thought process and to a lesser extent the drive to convert and spread the religion. When the religion spreads, other things will spread. Technology and new ideas would spread. In the earlier polytheistic religions, new ideas were typically shunned and advances in technology were few. The church controlled education then and with that the church would convert and teach. The world would be much different if not for these religions, something that would take a good deal of thought to imagine.

[Giorno Giovanna]

Heaven would be empty and Earth would be Hell.

Couldn't have said it any better. Earth would have been much worse than it is already.

[the_eliot_one]

I should imagine society wouldn't have been terribly different. The religions develloped according to the society they were in. In the age of monarchies and exploitation, they were oppressive and violent, in the age of ancient superstition, they were sacrificing animals to cleanse them of crimes and curry favour of Jehova. In this liberal age they condemm the authoritarianism, exploitation and practice regular aid to the rest of the world. So all in all, not terribly different.

[Passerby]

If God decided not to reveal Himself to us, we would have no knowledge or conception of truth, not even left to our natural reason; He even tries to guide non-Judaic religions to the truth, even though it is impossible to replace Jesus fully. The human race probably wouldn't have made it this far.

[historic salve]

Europe might still be controlled by barbarians (the Roman Empire would have fallen with or without Christianity, but I think it would have taken longer). I doubt the Americas would ever have been discovered. Culture would be very different, assuming there would be any culture at all to speak of in the West.

[Tladatsi]

Then someone would have had to create them.

Say God decided not to reveal himself to men, and leave them to their own devices?

This should be a historical discussion only, okay?

Say the three never existed, hmm...

[Tladatsi]

Europe might still be controlled by barbarians

It is not?

I doubt the Americas would ever have been discovered.

It already was.

Culture would be very different, assuming there would be any culture at all to speak of in the West.

There is?

[historic salve]

It is not?

Nope.

It already was.

You know what I mean.

There is?

Where there is art, there is culture, and if you build it they will come.

[Texatru]

The legacy of the monotheistic religions seem to have largely been the explosion of the "I'm right - You're wrong" philosophies which we live with to this day.

On this criteria, the world could have been a more peaceful place, but that is only speculation since pagans and heathens were perhaps as warlike as monotheistic fanatics.

So - impossible to tell, but its fun to speculate.

[JonLanceBarker]

The legacy of the monotheistic religions seem to have largely been the explosion of the "I'm right - You're wrong" philosophies which we live with to this day.

Which predated monotheism by a long shot and were quite trendy among ancient Greeks.

On this criteria, the world could have been a more peaceful place, but that is only speculation since pagans and heathens were perhaps as warlike as monotheistic fanatics.

Perhaps? Come on. Seriously. Was the pagan Roman Empire less warlike than medieval Europe? What about the Persian Empire? Alexander the Great?

So - impossible to tell, but its fun to speculate.

Indeed.