These days in christianity and many other modern forms of belief

(OP) God bless guys!

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>>1963958
>What was medieval christianity like for the average person?
More pious than modern Christianity, friend.

>>1963958
>have religions always been like this
No. Personal religion makes religion in itself completely fucking worthless when it's no longer capable of being effectively used as a societal control system.

>>1963958
Medieval Christians were a lot more concerned about their salvation than modern Christians. The medieval Church had a stronger emphasis on works and the book of James, so salvation wasn't seen as a one time thing, it was something you had to work at. Constantly. Also more emphasis on guilt. The medieval Church used this fear of hellfire to motivate people into penances, like donations or pilgrimages. The medieval Church functioned like a business and a hotel because it was one. They owned large amounts of land and individual monasteries/churches produced their own goods while renting out rooms to pilgrims

>>1963995

religion doesnt have to be about societal control! i think the wane of religion as societal control hasnt actually got much to do with personal religion. more, secular enlightenment thinking and science's skepticism of gods.

>>1964013
>religion doesnt have to be about societal control!
It's a completely worthless piece of shit without it though.

>>1963958
In the middle ages there was definitely more of a community aspect to religion. In small European villages, there was a town church that every citizen celebrated every milestone at with everyone from the village. This led to more of a focus on the idea of "Christiandom".
The worship of saints was also REALLY popular, to the extent that the church had to step in and ban some of the more folky saints because of weird devotional practices (for example, there was an extremely popular dog saint. Can't remember his name, but a popular cult sprang up around his worship that was eventually banned by the church)

>>1964001

i feel like partly because less of a way to justify atheism back then and now its considered more of a choice that people do for self-fulfilment rather than god as an objective thing.

im not sure about this though. i know atheism was a thing in more ancient times in like greek philosophy but dont know if atheism was much of a thing in the medieval world. i imagine it would be alot harder with a whole institution riding your ass.

>>1964015
i think its a culture like any other with their own practises and belief systems. and i think it can be therapeutic/good for health for various reasons and give meaning in life for people.

i think these days, the social cohesion religion offers is potentially more powerful/healthier than other groups we have today. its just often not utilised especially because aspiration in society today is more individualistic now, especially for young people.

>>1964017
>dog saint

amazing hahaha