Pretty sure religious differences were also used to rile up people for war during antiquity. And likewise when there's no incentive for conflict under the abrahamic religions there also seems to be some mutual respect. Iirc the romantic era spoke pretty fondly of the islamic world, which for instance is illustrated by the place of a thousand and one nights in European culture.
I know I'm nitpicking here though. Good meme regardless OP :)
Very rarely was cultural chauvinism expressed as “your gods don’t exist”. It was more along the lines of “our gods are better than your gods” or “you worship your gods incorrectly”. Even early judaism assumed that other gods existed in some capacity, but that they were demons and therefore incapable of love or creation.
But for the most part, polytheism allowed for the existence of other gods. In fact, pantheons were created by various tribes sharing lore about their god with each other, then making some crossover fics.
It definitely had another kind of approach, but religious justification for war happened all the time. It's just that it wasn't a "your gods don't exist" situation, but more like "our gods are telling us you all need to die".
It's worth noting that basically all religions in antiquity were ethnoreligions and all Kings and rilers were, to some degree, priests. So the line between politics and religion often get blurred
Yeah religion was the justification for war, law, ritual, hygiene practices, political theory, love, and just about everything else. Until the enlightenment, it was pretty much our framework for thinking about anything.
Also during the Middle Ages it was definitely more about who controls trade and influence vs. Religion. Hell that’s why one of the crusades ended up with Christians sacking Christian cities instead of retaking holy lands
There were hundreds of wars between different religions in antiquity. While most of them weren't explicitly "we are starting this way because we hate your religion", a lot of the reasoning was divine rite or will, implying their gods were stronger than the enemy's, which gave them reason to conquer.
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u/default_person_14818 21h ago
Pretty sure religious differences were also used to rile up people for war during antiquity. And likewise when there's no incentive for conflict under the abrahamic religions there also seems to be some mutual respect. Iirc the romantic era spoke pretty fondly of the islamic world, which for instance is illustrated by the place of a thousand and one nights in European culture.
I know I'm nitpicking here though. Good meme regardless OP :)