From: Steve Davies (steve365@btinternet.com)
Date: Tue Oct 15 2002 - 12:41:46 MDT
Lee wrote
>
> Quite! I was very serious about the Maunder Minimum.
> When the "little ice age" faded in the early 1700's
> everything seemed to take a turn towards the better.
> Historically, at least, global warming has always
> been a *good* thing. In every case, humanity has
> thrived as it got warmer, and shrivelled when it
> got colder.
Absolutely - just look at how the flowering of the Middle Ages corresponded
with a warm spell in the 9th to 1th centuries.
Steve wrote
> > but IMHO the critical thing was the crisis of religious
> > belief that took place at the end of the 17th century,
> > one aspect of that being the revolutionary idea of ture
> > religious toleration.
Lee
> Well, both Protestantism (i.e. weakening of the Roman
> Church) and the printing press both had 16th century
> origins, so I can't explain the toleration of the
> 18th century. You're very possibly right.
The printing press is from before the 16th century even. The Reformation is
a total disaster for religious open mindedness. Eventually though a near 150
years of religious carnage put many people firmly off religious dogmatism
and gave rise to the novel idea of true religious toleration. It also
undermined belief in Christianity among many of the elite. I also think the
switch in both Catholicism and Protestantism from Christianity as a
"religion of doing" where for most people it was simply something you did,
to a "religion of belief" where you had to believe things and know why you
believed them eventually undermined belief among many. I think if you look
at the records you can see the shift starting in the very late 17th
century - as Greg points out Newton's great work is a major landmark. It's
at about that time that the great witch mania draws to a close as well.
Steve D.
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