Nicolette Williams on Tribal and Ancient religions

Tribal, Ancient and Hellenistic Religions Analysis
Nicolette Williams
World Religions
2/17/07

Every religion has it’s own set of strengths and weaknesses, which make each particular religion more or less viable as a religious platform for today’s 21st century society. Religion, because it is, at its heart, a system of personal beliefs, values and morals, can be very hard to objectively analyze. It can be very difficult to pick apart the flaws and weakness of any religion, especially one’s own, because religion is a very sensitive topic. It is almost as though exposing and viewing the flaws of a religion demean it somehow, make it less believable. It can be very hard to separate ourselves from our feelings and take a truly critical and unbiased look at any religion. In order to truly understand different religions, however, we must try to set aside our personal feelings and biases to explore the strengths and weakness of various religions as best we can.
Tribal religions are some of the earliest forms of religion, and almost every culture had some form of a tribal religion when it first began. Many tribal religions believed that a pantheon of gods was in control of every aspect of life and that every living thing had a spirit. Most tribal religions had very vague concepts about the afterlife, because it wasn’t something that was of terrible importance to their everyday lives. In many tribal religions there was a creation myth that varied from culture to culture and tribe to tribe. The people of many tribal religions could not contact the gods or spirits themselves, but rather worked using a medium, a shaman to communicate with the spirit world for them. Tribal religions are a very strange set of religions because they have mostly faded from the present world. Some practitioners of these tribal religions do still remain, and the most ready example would be remaining Native American tribes. This is very unfortunate because there is much today’s society could benefit from some of the concepts of tribal religions, the most important of these concepts being respect for all life, no matter how small. Though it is not something that society seems to be evolving towards, it would be a very pleasant change to know that more people were respecting all life rather than treating any life but human as disposable. Other parts of tribal religions, like the creation myths, are not something that translates very well into today’s society at all. It is very hard to believe that sea animals were created from the severed joints of a fleeing goddess as in Inuit myth or that the earth was created by balling up some sand that was under the fingernails of a giant turtle as in Maidu legend. Also, it is very hard for people today not to be concerned with an afterlife, if there is one, because our society is very different from tribal societies. In tribal societies there was very little time for anyone to concentrate on anything but staying fed and healthy and procreating. Today, however, we do not have to concentrate on these basic activities like tribal people did, and as a result we have much more time to ponder our fate after death. Though there are some aspects of tribal religions that society today could benefit from, on the whole these religions simply do not hold up to today’s religious needs.
Ancient cultures and therefore ancient religions are very different than tribal cultures and religions. Ancient culture comes with the settling of the tribes, with the end of the hunter/gatherer societies. Ancient cultures had many elements that are still present in present society, such as laws, trade, and war, but they are also very dissimilar to present day religions. With the evolution of society from nomadic tribes into early civilizations more societal roles evolved, creating different specialized functions that created roles that were not tied to gender. As professions evolved and ancient peoples settled, shamans evolved into priests, dedicated to religion as their sole profession. In most societies ancient religions, like tribal religions, held to the belief that their world was influenced by a number gods, but unlike tribal religions, as the people had specialized professions, so too did their gods. The gods that ancient religions worshiped were very easily angered, and if they were not given proper tributes, could and would cause natural disasters, such as floods. As some ancient religions progressed, handfuls of gods faded out of memory and existence, while other gods became highly important and worshipped. Some of these ancient societies even evolved to the point where one god took precedence over all others, or all others were discarded in the face of that one god. Also important to ancient civilizations were calendrical holidays, solstices and equinoxes, marking the longest and shortest days of the year, as well as other celestial events. Another part of ancient religion was that sacrifices, in most cases grain or even humans, were made to appease the gods. This is something that tribal religions did not engage in because in a hunter/gatherer society nothing could be sacrificed because everything would have gone to keeping the tribe’s people fed and healthy. These ancient civilizations have much in common with today’s religions, and much that is no longer in practice. As in ancient cultures, our society has many specified professions, and professional priests are among them. These priests do have rituals that are followed to structure worship, and sacrifices are offered, though in present society we offer money instead of grain. As well, in most present day religions we still have feast days or days of high worship as many ancient religions did. Most of the religions that are prominent today are monotheistic, and believe that there is only one true god, something that most ancient religions evolved into. In present society we cannot scientifically believe that our smallest actions can provoke supernatural beings into retaliating by causing floods or earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, because we know what causes these things to occur. In reflection, though we do still loosely follow traditions set down in ancient times; there are many things that do not recommend these ancient religions to present day society.
The Hellenistic religions were the product of a melding and meshing of different traditions, a integration of many other cultures, producing religions that were ever-changing and reflected trends and events. One aspect of this ever-changing nature is that Greek and Roman myths surrounding deities were very easily changed, added to, and sometimes two gods would be combined. In the Hellenistic religions there is a large pantheon of higher gods who are very humanlike and took interest, in some cases even helped, certain heroes or adventurers. Another large part of Hellenistic religions was the importance of diviners and oracles that were not devoted to the worship of and communication with the gods, but instead were fortunetellers for the people. A number of the pantheon of gods, and even some outside gods like the Egyptian Goddess Isis, had cult followings. These cults were very secretive in nature, with rituals and doctrines that only the initiated were aware of. Most of these cults had their own views of what would earn their initiates immortality. In Hellenistic society women were seen as less intelligent and only good for reproduction, however there were a large number of powerful feminine goddesses that were worshiped by the Romans and Greeks, such as Demeter, Artemis and Aphrodite. In Greek and Roman worship, one of the key rituals was the funerary ritual, a sacred duty to honor the deceased. This obligation to give a proper funeral was stronger than self-preservation instincts and duty to surviving family or to the state. In the 21st century, just as in Hellenistic cultures, we have a melding of different cultures, integrating those aspects of other cultures that we view as helpful. There are, however, many aspects of the Hellenistic religions that have not survived the centuries. One of these aspects is the unchangeable aspect of most modern religious code. Most modern religions do not allow for change of their traditions, rather holding fast to the structured rituals and centuries old myths. Another facet of Hellenistic religions that has not continued in today’s society is the concept of a group of gods, who are themselves humanlike, that directly involve themselves in human life. Most modern religions focus on one god who is set apart from humanity and free from the emotions or moral issues that plague humans. Nor do most people today make pilgrimages to see oracles or diviners to determine their fate. In our scientific society it is hard to believe that anyone could put their faith completely in diviners or fortunetellers. A further characteristic of Hellenistic religions that has not translated to modern society is the elaborate, all-important funeral rituals.
Every religion has its share of strengths and weaknesses, and some aspects of every religion have carried through to present day, but many other aspects of tribal, ancient and Hellenistic religions have failed to make the transition into the 21st century. This is not to say that these religions have been completely abandoned in the present day. As religion is a personal set of beliefs, there are tribal, ancient and Hellenistic religions that are still practiced by some people. It is simply that these religions do not seem as feasible in our present scientific community enough to be widespread religions, like Christianity of Judaism. It is safe to say that though small numbers of people who do believe in tribal, ancient or Hellenistic religions do still exist, it is not a viable option in present day society.