Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightshade
There's nothing stopping them as seeing gods power as coming from the worship of mortals, though; but to the best of my knowledge, that doesn't seem to have been the view of any of them (you occasionally find something vaguely like it in animism, but that's not quite the same thing).
|
Yup. Most real world (and most fantasy world) religions have power tricking down from on high. Few faiths work the other way. But that also mirrors most ancient societies, too. Trickle down divinity supports concepts such as the divine right of kings, and props up the entire feudal structure.
Once you accept an idea like power coming from the people you risk upsetting the entire social order. Since the religious leaders in most cultures were at the top of the social order, they had good reasons to be conservative to reactionary in their views.
There are a few religions with such concepts, but they were usually practiced among the poor lower classes, and usually were wiped out by the ruling elite.