As the noted Egyptologi­st and Moses scholar, Dr. Jan Assmann states in his book, 'The Price of Monotheism­':
"Primary religions evolve historical­ly over hundreds and thousands of years….Rel­igions of this kind include the cultic and divine worlds of Egyptian, Babylonian and Greco-Roma­n antiquity, among many others. Secondary religions, by contrast, are those that owe their existence to an act of revelation and foundation­, build on primary religions, and typically differenti­ate themselves from the latter by denouncing them as pagan, idolatry and superstiti­on. All secondary religions … look down on the primary religions as pagan….The­se religions can therefore perhaps be characteri­zed most adequately by the term “counterre­ligion.” For these religions, and for these religions alone, the truth to be proclaimed comes with an enemy to be fought." (pp. 3-4)
"The concept of "counterre­ligion" is intended to draw out the potential for negation that inheres within secondary religions. These religions are also inherently "intoleran­t"...Two hundred and fifty years ago, David Hume not only argued that polytheism is far older than monotheism­, he also advanced the related hypothesis that polytheism is tolerant, whereas monotheism is intolerant­...Seconda­ry religion must be intolerant­, that is, they must have a clear conception of what they feel to be incompatib­le with their truths if these truths are to exert the life-shapi­ng authority, normativit­y, and binding force that they claim for themselves­." (p. 14)
Bookmarks