Where does God begin?...2

So anyway, back to my theory. It seems to me likely that the development of the city plays a large part in the rise of the environment which gives birth to the one god. How? Well consider this, the village, which is in effect a further extension of the extended family, is not a likely environment for the development of ideas of individuality, and individuality is necessary for the development of a strong point of view. And a strong, almost megalomaniacal, egocentric, all consuming point of view is necessary for the development of one god to the exclusion of all others.

Now in the days before the rise of cities, individualism meant something like a death wish. For a long period of time during the development of humans being alone was a very frightening prospect. Humans survived by familial alliances. Those extended alliances were effective enough that they grew into tribes. Tribes were very successful. In fact tribal affiliation as a social bond is still so successful a survival strategy that Tribalism is to this day the most real threat to democracy. So it seems unlikely that the idea of one god alone should spring up in in a tightly knit tribal setting. As a matter of fact there is no evidence other than mythological that this ever happened. Historically speaking the first notions of an exclusive god comes from where you might expect it in that time, the place where an individual might survive on his own, where his ego might develop along independent and radical lines: Egypt.

I know, I've heard the arguments, " Akhenaten wasn't a monotheist, he was a henotheist!" Let's set aside the discussion of monotheism/henotheism for a moment and look for a practical rather than a theological definition. Let's look at what Akhenaten did in his religious practice.
1. He personalized the worship experience ( his great hymn to Aten is "heart felt")
2. He builds a new center of worship at Amarna, abandoning the traditions of his ancestors.
3. He closes the worship sites not connected to his chosen form of worship, in effect denying
the "non-believers" ( those who chose to worship a deity other than Aten) the opportunity to
do so.
4. His rejection of the cults of the other gods has the effect of a natural disaster: temples are
abandoned, priests are forced out of their civic function, and not so subtle pressure is put on the inhabitants to fall in line and follow the new and improved Superior god!

Now consider how the religion of Moses develops:
1. He has the personal experience of the burning bush ( an intimate encounter w/ Yahweh).
2. He receives direct quotes form Yahweh which explicitly forbid the acknowledgement of
other deities.
3. His unrepresentable god demands that he conquer a local people and DESTROY all their
religious centers.
4. His god further demands that he and his followers kill anyone of the indigenous people
who refuse to abandon their religious practices and believe only in Him (Yahweh).

And then consider how the Christians, the post Roman Empire monotheist, behave
1. They insist that it is faith in their hero alone which everyone in the world must accept
or die.
2. They actively seek to destroy all cultural elements of societies not associated with
Christianity, no matter the cultural value!
3. They go further than their predecessors insisting that the art of reason ( which was
responsible for such things as the Great pyramids, the aqueducts of Rome, the temples of the
Greeks, the medicine of Galen, the Pythagorean theorem, etc., ) is subject to the influence of
evil and therefore must be subject to faith. They ban the open expression of ideas.
4. Declaring the imitation of the Old Testament Kings the medieval Christian kings go on killing
rampages against nonbelievers, ironically turning on the people who first launched a holy
purging of the land of Canaan.

And again, the Muslims:
1. Receive Allah's word from only one source; Muhammed, his one and only voice.
2. Actively seek to displace all other faiths and in its most radical form to eliminated those
with different faiths.
3. They likewise insist that reason must serve Allah.
4. They reject any culture not like their own. ( Recall the Taliban destroying the 900 year old
Buddhas in Afghanistan).

Akhenatens religious pattern of behavior is exactly that of those who follow his line of thought.
1. Fabricate a new vision
2. Oppress those who will not accept it
3. Destroy/Negate the faiths and culture of others
4. Annihilate/alienate those who will not accept the new point of view and abandon their own.

This is the consistant repeating of the monotheistic cycle.One must wonder, what is the
payoff?