March 7, 2006
Kamloops Daily News

The very fabric of our culture and language is affected by
environment and weather. So is religion, says Professor
Robert Saplosky.

Nature shapes our perceptions of the world. If you live on
a high altitude plateau, your culture will differ in
essential and systematic ways from fishing cultures in an
island archipelago.

Languages evolve from natural world and also affect
perceptions. Canada's Inuit have dozens of words for snow
which coastal fishing people could never begin to
understand.

Food supply also affects our view of the world. If food is
available year-around from a farm plot, or from a
surrounding forest, the family unit remains intact.

In less forgiving climates, families have to split up for
long periods. Dry times force men to take their herds to
new feeding grounds. Communal standing armies must be left
behind to protect families and property from marauding
bands.

These factors also affect religion. Two patterns emerge. A
large proportion of rain forest dwellers are polytheistic;
worshipping an array of spirits and gods. This pattern of
belief is consistent regardless of whether the rain forest
dwellers live in South America, Africa, or Southeast Asia.

One other hand, desert dwellers are usually monotheistic.
Although there may be many spirits, angels, and devils; one
god remains supreme.

The lesson of the desert is singular - - life is tough, food
is scarce, and your enemies are relentless. The world is
reduced to a simple, desiccated, blast-furnace.

Contrast that to the rain-forest dweller who lives amid an
abundance of edible plants and medicinal herbs. The natural
outcome of abundant conditions generates many gods. These
gods are seen as benign providers; unlike the desert gods
who control weather, growing conditions, and illness.

The god of the desert people intervenes regularly. The
capricious desert deity shifts fertile land, brings famine
and pestilence, and intervenes in the daily life of people.
Conditions are ripe for conflict.

"Desert societies are classic spawning grounds for warrior
classes and the accessories of militarism: military trophies
as stepping stones to societal status, death in battle as a
guarantee afterlife, slavery," says Sapolsky.

The omnipotent god of the desert people dominates lesser
spirits. This heavenly hierarchy finds a rigid parallel on
earth - - men under god, women under men. Women are more
likely to be purchased or enslaved in desert societies.

In desert cultures, women have the difficult tasks of
building shelters, carrying wood and water, caring for
children, and preparing meals. Men contemplate the majesty
of their herds, tell stories of conquest, and plan their
next raid.

Among rain forest cultures, it's the men who often do the
heavy lifting. Women are usually equal to men. There are
fewer sexual taboos among forest cultures.

Desert cultures teach their children to be modest about
nudity and severely restrict pre-marital sex.

Desert cultures tend to be more restless in their quest for
a better place and they take their religion with them. At
various points in history, desert dwellers poured out of the
Middle East and spread their Judeo-Christian/Muslim
religions far and wide. And when cultures clash, one
militaristic and one peaceful, it's clear which will
dominate.

The religions of the desert people - - Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam - - have "proven extraordinarily
resilient in their export and diffusion throughout the
planet," says Sapolsky.

The Muslim manifestation of the Taliban in Afghanistan has
been breathtakingly repressive. Orthodox Jews have
stubbornly refused to share Israel with the Palestinians.
Fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. want to rescind the
enlightenment and re-write science and law to conform to
their beliefs.

The gentle culture and religion of the rain forest does not
travel well when uprooted from its hothouse homeland. The
rain forest people are under attack. Their diverse
languages are at greater risk of extinction than their
plants and animals.

The fragile pluralism born in a lush world of plenty is no
match for aggressive people who view themselves as the light
of the world.

To understand any culture, examine its belief systems. Are
we born in sin and doomed to live short, brutal lives? Are
we placed on earth to subjugate lesser humans, disbelievers,
and nature? Are our bodies basically dirty and shameful?

Incongruously, the practices of the desert people don't
match the teachings of their prophets. Christ and Mohammed
taught forgiveness, humility, compassion, and passive
acceptance of aggression.

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