Christianity post-Jesus but pre-Constantine. They met in small groups in a person’s home. It was a book club for how to be a better person because (setting atheist skepticism aside) that was Jesus’ original teaching.
Once it became a state religion, it was all about the power. After the fall of Rome, the Catholic Church was effectively a nation state - controlling territory, collecting taxes, etc.
You can believe in whatever you want, and that would be religion. Lots of people have their own flavor of religion. Even people who go to services often have their own flavor that doesn’t line up with any specific religion. I think there is like a whole religion around simply believing in some form of god. Unitarian I think they call. Not sure if it is actually organized or not. But once you have a human leader and a body that tells all others of a religion what to do, then you are organized. And that leader and body that makes descisions for the rest is the problem.
If a religion isn’t organized, then how is it a religion at all?
Christianity post-Jesus but pre-Constantine. They met in small groups in a person’s home. It was a book club for how to be a better person because (setting atheist skepticism aside) that was Jesus’ original teaching.
Once it became a state religion, it was all about the power. After the fall of Rome, the Catholic Church was effectively a nation state - controlling territory, collecting taxes, etc.
You can believe in whatever you want, and that would be religion. Lots of people have their own flavor of religion. Even people who go to services often have their own flavor that doesn’t line up with any specific religion. I think there is like a whole religion around simply believing in some form of god. Unitarian I think they call. Not sure if it is actually organized or not. But once you have a human leader and a body that tells all others of a religion what to do, then you are organized. And that leader and body that makes descisions for the rest is the problem.