Julian Salmi-Perry

November 28, 2018

World History B2
Theocracy Summative Assessment: Theocracy Research Paper

Religion has been one of the most profound influences on humans for thousands of years.
As soon as we were able to think, imagine, and create, religion has been with us. All throughout
history, people change, cultures change, and even the world changes. One thing, though, that
always seems to hold true is that the mindsets of people are influenced by, big shocker, religion.
Religious influence is powerful, there’s no doubt about that, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it
has kept—or will keep—its power. In fact, mindsets are becoming less influenced by religion as
time goes on. Why? The influence of religion on people’s mindsets has decreased because the
pressure from governments or higher social classes to conform to a specific way of thinking has
abated over time.

The first example of this change socially is none other that Sun-Tzu. The aforementioned
tactical genius changed the game by applying Taoist principles to warfare and by refusing to
consider war a sport. Sun Tzu’s book, The Art of War, is still used in military strategy to this day
and has been practiced in many past wars. Basically, if someone read his book, or at least knew a
bit about his genius, they better be damn sure to use it. He showed people that Taoism is
universal and can be applied to virtually everything. Sun-Tzu is cool because even after all this
time he stayed relevant, his ideas are still universal, and his strategies come from a place of
practical benevolence. He and his ideas are helpful because they helps armies fight more
effectively, but more importantly, because these philosophies trickle down to the people. Taoism
allows the expansion of people's ideas and thought processes, and it changes the way people
interact with the world and one another in a positive way. This mainstream-ization of Taoistic
tacticoolness helped the people of China, and eventually the world, think for themselves, ponder
concepts critically, and ultimately be less influenced by their superiors telling them how to think.

The second example of this change socially are the legendary samurai. The samurai lived
according to a code known as Bushido. Bushido means “the way of the warrior,” was an
amalgamation of concepts from Confucianism and Buddhism. It emphasized loyalty to one's
master, self discipline, and respectful, ethical behavior. The Neo-Confucianism influence on
samurai extended to the government structure and class system. The social hierarchy of feudal
Japan was the samurai, followed by the peasants, artisans and merchants. This is cool because
firstly, IT’S FREAKING SAMURAI, and secondly, we have similar values to them;
Confucianism permeates most cultures, including our own. Where’d we get the idea to respect
our elders? Confucianism. Be loyal to our friends? Confucianism. Be humane? Confucianism.
Bushido was helpful because prevented more chaos, helped struggling warriors know right from
wrong, and spread to the people, giving folks more philosophies to ponder and explore. In the
end, the samurai’s own ideals were their downfall. The very people who had been enlightened by
by the Buddhist and Confucian concepts of Bushido rebelled against the samurai, no longer
wanting to be at the bottom of the social hierarchy just because they didn’t wear armor or use a
sword. The common folk of Japan henceforth began practicing Buddhism, Confucianism, or
Julian Salmi-Perry
November 28, 2018
World History B2
Theocracy Summative Assessment: Theocracy Research Paper

Shinto, in any way they wanted to. There was no pressure to conform to a Confucian class
system, so they were free to live as they pleased.

An instance of the diminution of religion’s influence politically involves the Knights

Templar. The Templars were destroyed by King Philip IV because of the wealth they had
amassed and the fact they grew so powerful that people respected them more than the king. The
Templars were like superheroes to the people, so he feared they would overthrow him. Well,
more like he feared that they had the ability to overthrow him. The pope at the time feared the
wrath of the king so he agreed and gave up the Knights Templar. This whole dramatic string of
events is cool because it shows the power of the king while simultaneously showing the power of
the Knights Templar and the influence they had. When the Knights Templar was positively
viewed, Christianity was viewed positively by association. This is helpful because it shows how
when people’s opinion of religion gets too high, especially because of a higher social class, it
will inevitably go down. Not good or bad, the world is just a psychologically kinetic place.

The final precedent of religion’s curtailment happened economically, and it’s known as
the Fourth Crusade. During this time in history, Constantinople was stripped of its riches, relics,
and artworks. Constantinople, by the way, wasn’t even supposed to be the place that was
invaded. The Fourth Crusade was called by Pope Innocent III to retake Jerusalem from its
Muslim overlords, but through a series of facepalm-worthy management blunders, they had to
settle for Constantinople instead (yeah, big bruh). Anyway, after the invasion, the Byzantine
Empire was divided up between Venice and its allies. The Venetians took three-eighths of
Constantinople, the Ionian islands, Crete, Euboea, Andros, Naxos, and a few strategic points
along the coast of the Sea of Marmara. All this silly, simultaneously sad business is cool—well,
not really cool, a lot of people’s lives were ripped apart… let’s say interesting—because it’s
interesting to see how this plan B city got torn apart so that people would still be able to get what
they want: money (and resources and power and land but mostly money). This horrific
“retaking” is interesting because it exemplifies that people will do horrible things in the name of
good, especially when religion is poppin’. This was a time were the government heavily
influenced people to think inside the box of Christianity, which makes it a little easier to
understand how these soldiers thought ransacking a city would be just. But now, without the
vegemite of religion being shoved down our throats, it’s pretty clearly a terrible thing to do.

All of these moments in history elucidate the influence of religion’s decline due to the
folks in charge not being able to govern people’s mindsets. Whether or not it’s because of the
spread of knowledge in the form of books or the internet, or because trying to control people
leads to rebellion, or even the possibility that religious zeal is a feedback loop wherein people
constantly go back and forth on their opinion depending on how they are told to live, it’s a fact
that being able to think for ourselves is a good thing. And we should treasure that. Just ignore the
Julian Salmi-Perry
November 28, 2018
World History B2
Theocracy Summative Assessment: Theocracy Research Paper

fact that our thoughts are being controlled via psionic waves from lizard people living inside the
moon.

Sources and Source Analyses:

A. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2127.html
1. Analysis of Above Source:
a) Time/Place: Japan Guide, May 3, 2018
b) Bias: There is a lot of good history here, but the name of the site
and the fact that there are links at the bottom of the page to book a
trip to Japan means it might be in the writer's best interest to
romanticize Japan so more people tour there. More interesting
place = more tourists.
c) Audience: Anyone interested in the samurai, or people interested in
going to Japan. Historians would probably want to read actual
Japanese texts written in the Edo Period.
B. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Templars
1. Analysis for above source:
a) Time/Place: Encyclopedia Britannica, Date Published is not
specified.
b) Bias: This is an encyclopedia and is subsequently unbiased due to
the amount of different people that write it. However, because it’s
written by people from white-majority countries (USA and
Scotland), there may be bias towards Europeans. That’s a bit of a
stretch, though.
c) Audience: This is clearly meant for researchers and people looking
for detailed historical facts about the Templar. EB never fails.
C. https://www.ancient.eu/Fourth_Crusade/
1. Analysis of above source:
a) Time/Place: September 3, 2018. Ancient History Encyclopedia, by
Mark Cartwright.
b) Bias: Written for an encyclopedia, so it should be purely factual.
One person wrote it, so it’ll be less objective than if there were
multiple authors. It appears to be solid source.
c) Audience: Like all our best sources, this one’s meant for
researchers and history enthusiasts.
D. Unanalyzed sources:
1. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sunzi
Julian Salmi-Perry
November 28, 2018
World History B2
Theocracy Summative Assessment: Theocracy Research Paper

2. https://www.ancient.eu/Sun-Tzu/
3. https://www.britannica.com/event/Crusades/The-Fourth-Crusade-and-the-
Latin-empire-of-Constantinople#ref1184382
4. https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/the-knights-templar
5. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/eaj.html
6. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2128.html