OtherMichael, is that you?
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This thread topic has covered other mythical religions and spiritual topics, besides the mythical character Jesus and the solar equinoxes and solstices.
That being noted, according to a solar account from the mythical religion of Hinduism, our time on Earth may be short.
In Hinduism our solar system’s motion around a central sun represents the Hindu concept of the four ages of the Yuga system. A complete Yuga cycle, is symbolized as one full day in the life of the mythical Hindu creator god Brahma. A complete Yuga cycle lasts millions of years. In the mythical religion of Hinduism, there are four ages of life on earth: Krita or Satya-Yuga, 1,728,000 years; Treta-Yuga, 1,296,000 years; Dvapara-Yuga, 864,000 years; and Kali-Yuga, 432,000 years.
Each Yuga cycle represents a leg of the Dharma bull, and the years of each cycle are derived by subtracting 432,000 years from each age, starting with the oldest. The first cycle, which was 1,728,000 years ago, represented a Golden Age of amazing, great and monumental accomplishments on Earth. People on Earth during this time respected each other and lived in harmony and peace–while love prevailed on Earth and humans were rewarded with longevity of life.
As life deteriorates In each successive age of life on Earth, correspondingly, the Dharma bull stands on one fewer leg. Unfortunately, the last cycle (which we are in now), lasts 432,000 years and the Dharma bull is left standing on only one leg. This last and shortest cycle has deteriorated into a age of death, war, fraudulent economic, social and political corruption, a time of starvation, famine, plague, disease and pestilence.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Yuga
Kali Yuga
The Kali Yuga (कली युग), which is said to have begun on January 23rd 3102 B.C.E., is the phase in which we currently exist according to most interpretations of Hindu scriptures. This is often referred to as the “Age of Darkness,” because people are as distant from the divine as is possible. Now the Dharma bull has only one leg upon which to stand, as morality has been reduced to only a quarter of that of the Satya Yuga. According to the Hindu tradition, most people in this age are materialistic, concerned only with empirical aspects of reality, and the predominant emphasis of their existence is placed upon physical survival. Dishearteningly, most peoples’ relationships with the spiritual realm are governed by superstition and authority. The virtue accorded highest value in this epoch is daana (alms).
The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa is a day of Brahmā, and one day of Brahmā consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas or ages: Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years. In the Tretā-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years. In the Dvāpara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years. And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have now been experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically nonexistent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years.
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Off to bed after this drink!
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Jesus comes back to Earth, observes the decaying state of humankind–and as a result, repeatedly pounds his head against the temple wall, resulting in him losing his mind and burning down the holy temp!e.
News Flash! Jesus on a ambulance gurney, being taken away.
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Dharma bull. That’s the phrase I was looking for.
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Who is John Galt?
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Don’t be ridiculous.
That’s a white dude. Jesus wasn’t white.
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That’s rhetorical, right?
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I just got caught up on this thread. Jesus, it is epic. @khepra, never stop being you.
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No, really: who is John Galt? I’ve found his wallet.
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How do you understand the relationship between religion and culture working? This is a key issue that need to be made clear at the beginning of a meaningful critique of religion, since confusion between domains and confusion about causality can make a mess of an effort at analysis.
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What do you mean when you post:
“How do you understand the relationship between religion and culture working? This is a key issue that need to be made clear at the beginning of a meaningful critique of religion, since confusion between domains and confusion about causality can make a mess of an effort at analysis.”
Culture consists of intellectual and philosophical manifestations I.e. displays of human achievement, theory and abstract thought.
Religions are nothing but mythological displays, based on abstract human intellectual thought and theory.
Religions are mythological. All religions are created by men-- and religious books like the Bible, Qur’an and Tanakh etc…are simply books written by men–or literature written by
men-which makes those books a part of culture.
Different, diverse and various cultures have existed for millions of years before any mythical religion was created. A culture can exist without religion. Religion is a part of any specific culture.
So… which is it?
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I believe that this is what @khepra meant to say… but I’m not really sure about anything @khepra says soooo… I don’t know. @Khepra would you confirm one way or the other?
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You posted:
Which is it?
Are you kidding me! 
A culture or people can exist and have existed without religion.
Religion cannot exist without a specific culture or people.
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Saying religion isn’t a part of any specific culture, would be false.
Mythological religions are created by people–and people are a part of any specific culture.
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Are you trying to say that people are not a part of any specific culture? Your words confuse me. I don’t get it.
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But religions often extend beyond one specific culture. Even if we confine our focus to the US, we find that Christianity addresses itself to many different cultures.
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I’d asked the question because it’s a nice messy thing with no nice answer and lots of blurriness to it, which is just the kind of thing that gets one thinking and not finding handy quotes to sum things up neatly (or even messily), and it’s worked a bit. I’m afraid all I’ll do is muddy the waters some more, since things need some more stirring before we’ve got a hope at clarity.
So a culture’s intellectualism and philosophy (and some other stuff), while religion’s abstract human intellectual thought and theory?
Philosophy is a class of abstract human intellectual thought and theory (today defined in terms of logic, epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, theology, aesthetics, and theories of justice/politics.) Theology’s a realm of philosophy that’s also in the domain of religion. So that muddys things up a lot for your first definitions.
You’re much too narrow on culture, which can include a shared set of beliefs, cultural practices, way of communicating, language, and various definitions of a person’s roles and responsibilities in different social domains. You seem to be trying to keep it positive on culture, despite the fact that cultures can be bastions of misogyny, racism, prejudices, enslavement, and abusive/unjust relationships.
You’re too narrow on religions, which do have an element of mythology to them (please, we all know religions involve mythology, you don’t need to add the modifier every time you use the word), but religions typically foster many philosophical traditions, and have other dimensions since religions include the personal religious experience, the social religious experience, rites/practices, hermeneutical traditions with various religious texts, and some kind of delineations of the sacred and profane.
Some cultures are defined by their religion, some not, but some secular societies have been as bad as the worst religious ones (like Marxist Albania). Just in case you’re thinking secularism per se is a magic bullet, it isn’t (I say this as a strong secularist).
So where’s the line cut?
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