Good stuff, Nicole.

However, the dominant religion of the West today is not Christianity. It is materialism, consumerism, capitalism, and marketing. Its churches are the commercial marketplace, the banks, and the stock exchange. Its priests are the advertisers. Their main pulpit is the TV.

Its forms of worship and ritual are working, earning money, spending money, partying, and acquiring ever-increasing amounts of goods and services. Buying now and paying later (if ever) is a cherished ideal that inspires the parishioners to mortgage their lives away on an uncertain future...and THAT's FAITH, by golly.

Its promised salvation is instant gratification of all desires, easily achievable through credit spending...accompanied by a very powerful cultural myth about romantic "love" (finding that special "someone" who will complement you perfectly, always turn you on, and make up for the fact that the rest of your life is essentially meaningless in the greater context of existence, which is itself...well...ummm...meaningless.).

The romantic love thing seems to be necessary, since the rest of the package as offered is utterly soulless, and that could lead to serious trouble. Gotta put some emotional content in life or people could lose their minds and run amok in the streets.

Christianity ceased being the dominant religion a long time ago in the West, and is now merely a cultural remnant of a time when it once WAS the dominant religion, just as the British monarchy is now a cultural remnant of a time when it was the dominant power in the British Empire and the world.

However, these are just side observations to the general theme of this thread. The info you have provided about 3 much older religions which arose in the Middle East has been quite interesting and informative.

- LH