Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer
Nor was I. I was useing a very limited frame of refference to say that an Empire, which has a very religious populace, could have a secular governing elite. The original arguement was about China. The USA has never been an Empire (we won't argue that point), but it has been a highly religious society with a secular government. And you will note the reference to Roman attitudes to religion in one of my posts.
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The Romans
did have a state religion, Astromancer. They had one from the time of King Numa all the way to the end of the Empire in 1453 AD; it just wasn't the
same state religion the whole time. I suggest that polytheists make a different sort of claim than monotheists. Syncretism is possible with either set of theological assumptions, but it's arguably easier with polythiesm. The same goes for pluralism. Please note that the Romans did, at various times, ban certain cults that made trouble for the Republic/Empire, or that grossly offended the sensibilities of the elite.
Oh, and it's no fair to make bold claims, like 'the US has never been an empire' and then forbid anyone to challenge said claims. Either make statements you can defend, or don't make them. :)
I'm going to ask again- can we please move the non-Traveller stuff to PMs? I'm perfectly happy to discuss imperialism, secularism, federalism, militarism, and Astromancerism in a more appropriate venue. I'm offering you that venue; let's talk about this stuff in
PMs.