One is often reminded that religions provide the foundations of morality for humanity, and that how, without religions, humanity would be hopelessly without a moral compass. However, it is now widely known that religions are among the worst offenders in perpetuating inequitable practices.
It is instructive to look ancient history to see if religions have provided moral foundations for governance systems. This author would argue that there is little to conclude that religions of any given age always provided moral foundations in the light of these examples.
We examine the exhortations made by several kings of ancient Babylonia and Persia, translated from various edicts and proclamations.
We start with two proponents of the "violent reprisal" school-of-thought, from Babylonia.
Ashurbanipal (685-627 BCE)
"I conquered Susa. I removed the seals from the treasuries and stores, accumulated by the Kings from olden times. All the silver, gold, jewels, cloaks and furniture of the palaces, statues of Kings made from gold and silver and precious stones were sent to Assyria. Then I rooted out the temples of Susa and reduced their Gods to sand and rubble. The territory which was within the marching distances of one month and twenty days I made barren from end to end, loaded thorns into it, and converted it into a marshy land. The sons and daugters of Kings and all the members of the royal family, governors, officers, weapon makers, artisans, men or women and all the cattle were taken to Assyria. I crushed the head of Elam and removed the cries of joy and rejoicing from that territory. I converted the country into the dwelling of wild donkeys, wild boars, devils and wild beasts."
Nebuchadnezzar (605-652 BCE)
"I ordered that a hundred thousand eyes may be brought before me and a hundred thousands shanks of the legs make be broken. With my own hands I gorged out the eyeballs of the commander of the enemy from the sockets. Thousands of boys and girls were burnt alive. I battered the houses in such a way that the sound of living persons may not come out of them again."
Less than a hundred years from them, we have two Persian emperors of the Achamenid empire.
Cyrus (576-530 BCE)
"I am Kurush the Hakkamanian. O man, whoever you are and wheresoever you come from, I am Kurush who found the kingdom of the Persians, grudge me not therefore this little earth that covers my body."
--From his tombstone
"When I entered Babylon without any battle, people welcomed my arrival with rejoicing. In the palace of the Kings of Bablylon I sat upon the royal throne. Marduk (the God of the Babylonians) inclined the hearts of the noble people of Babylon favourably towards me because I looked upon Him with respect and love. My large army entered Babylon comfortably. I did not allow any calamity to befall the people and its sacred places touched my heart. I ordered that all the people were free to worship their God--and irreligious people should not harm them.
I ordered that none of the houses should be ruined. I ordered that none of the citizens should be put to death. The great God (Ahura Mazda) was pleased with me and bestowed upon me Cyrus and upon my son Cambujiyeh and upon all my soldiers the gifts of his blessings.
Kings who are sitting in their palaces in all the countries of the world, Kings from across the seas and Kings of the West, all of them brought rich tributes and in Babylon they kissed my feet. I ordered that all the temples of Babylon, Susa, Akkad and in the territory beyond the Euphrates which were built in ancient times and were closed, should be reopened.
I restored all the Gods of these temples to their places so that they may remain there forever. I gathered together the people of the areas and rebuilt their houses which had been demolished. The Gods of Sumer and Akkad safely restored to their palaces known as `Delight of the Heart'. I bestowed upon all the people peace and happiness."
Darius (550-486 BCE)
"Ahura Mazda bore me aid because I was not hostile, I was not deceitful, I did not act falsely, neither I nor my family. I conducted myself as per justice. Neither to weak nor to the powerful did I do wrong. The man who was excellent, him I rewarded well; him who was evil, I punished well. By the grace of Ahura Mazda I am of such a sort that I am a friend to right, I am not a friend to wrong. It is not my desire that the weak man should have wrong done to him by the mighty; nor is it my desire that the mighty should have wrong done to him by the weak. What is right, that is my desire--it is not my desire that a man should do harm; nor is it my desire that if he should do harm, he should not be punished."
We thus have examples of two extreme ends of moral behaviour arising from the equally religious emperors, the difference arising largely from what seems to be personal or clan value systems rather than religion per se.
In the contemporary world too, this distinction is evident...most often, the goodness that one possesses does not necessarily originate from religion--in some cases, it is there in spite of religion!
