A new member has some questions

[Dream]

The two are not made of the same materials (the sandstone of Egypt is of course available in Mexico) and could not possibly have been built using the same techniques. And while the Mayas were building sizable towns as long ago as the 2nd millenium BC, they did not build pyramids until the very end of their civilization, about 500-700 AD, so there is no overlap in time either.

The Mayans may have gotten the idea from visiting Egypt and seeing the pyramids, so it may not have been coincidence or convergent evolution either. All it takes is one witness that a concept works and a copycat will work to figure out the details.

this is what really fecks me off about evangelicals, particularly protestant approaches: it's all so bloody fluffy.

Glad to see you're aware of evangelicals. Evangelical must sound ominous to you because of the 'Evangelism', though there are churches calling themselves Evangelical that recognize other faiths.

I haven't traveled much past the borders...but the folks I've met up here tell me that Catholicism in Central and South America is not unseparbly intertwined and intermingled with ancient rituals and beliefs, especially in the poorer urban and rural areas...

That is an evangelical description. There is a lot of religious tourism to South America, and many of the tourists see that as idolatry. What I hear through protestant channels is that the Catholic church in South America is lax and permissive, perhaps idolatrous. From the Catholic side I hear the religious tourism churches are divisive and incoherent.

 

[bananabrain]

The Mayans may have gotten the idea from visiting Egypt and seeing the pyramids

yeah. not a seafaring race, the mayans. when they should have been building boats, they were busy chopping each other up on top of those pyramids. i can picture the conversation....

MAYAN: wow - pyramids just like back home!
EGYPTIAN: yes, all the better to bury the king in for his journey to the afterlife.
MAYAN: it must be a bit of a bugger getting the altar up to the top. back home, we put steps on them.
EGYPTIAN: steps? so people could climb up the king's tomb? what if they mess with the capstone on the top? that could screw up the measurements for the inundation.
MAYAN: but if you get rid of the pointy top, you'll be able to fit the altar up there and, what's more, the slaves will be able to get up to the top to be sacrificed, plus, when the heads bounce down the steps you get a really nice effect from the blood sprays.
EGYPTIAN: what, waste perfectly good slaves?
MAYAN: it's not a waste! how do you get the sun to come up and the grass to grow over here then?
EGYPTIAN: the king does it first thing in the morning.
MAYAN: your king works for a living?
EGYPTIAN: well, it's a job. first thing he puts on his royal regalia.
MAYAN: that would be to keep the blood off, right?
EGYPTIAN: look, there isn't any blood! the king doesn't need to sacrifice slaves to make the sun come up!
MAYAN: so how do these smooth pointy pyramids of yours help get him to the afterlife, then?
EGYPTIAN: well, when he dies, we embalm him, then we stuff his entrails into these jars here...
MAYAN: (busily taking notes) entrails....in...jars...they'll love this back home.
EGYPTIAN: then we take out his heart -
MAYAN: aha! that's starting to sound like *proper* religion. none of this not-cutting-out-your-heart liberalism.
EGYPTIAN: ...and that goes in a jar, next we get these hooks here, stick them up his nose and pull his brains out of his sinuses.
MAYAN: and to think i thought you lot were backward.

put it this way, if the mayans had copied pyramids, i bet they'd have copied other stuff too.

Glad to see you're aware of evangelicals. Evangelical must sound ominous to you because of the 'Evangelism', though there are churches calling themselves Evangelical that recognize other faiths.

hard not to be aware of evangelicals - i'm really referring to the sort that are, well, evangelical, as opposed to the ones that just use the branding.

b'shalom

bananabrain