This Fleeting World

50 This Fleeting World
Worth Debating
Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam remain the most significant religions
of the world. Until recent years, though, only Christianity has
been a major presence in the United States. Do you see a greater presence
of adherents of Buddhism and Islam in your own community?
If not, search online for the words “Buddhist temple” or “mosque”
and add in the name of the town or city you live in—you might be
surprised at the results. Many ethnic groups have found their way
into the American mainstream, but most of these groups observed
religions rooted in Judeo-Christian theology and traditions. Will
it take many years for other religions like Buddhism and Islam to
find mainstream acceptance in the United States of the twenty-first
century?
traditions of Mesopotamia and the philosophical traditions of northern
India and China.
The Americas
In the Americas, too, political systems expanded in size, in military power,
and in cultural and commercial reach. During the first millennium ce complex
systems of city-states and early empires emerged in Mesoamerica. At
its height the great city of Teotihuacan in Mexico had a population of more
than 100,000 people and controlled trade networks reaching across much
of Mesoamerica. However, we cannot be certain that it had direct control
of any other cities or states. Farther south, Mayan civilization consisted of
a large number of regional states, some of which may have established at
least temporary control over their neighbors. Both these powerful systems
collapsed, however, during the second half of the first millennium ce. As
in southern Mesopotamia early during the second millennium bce, the collapse
may have been caused by overexploitation of the land.
However, just as the political traditions of Sumer were eventually taken
up in Babylon and Assyria, so, too, in Mesoamerica the political traditions
of Teotihuacan and the Maya provided the cultural foundations for even