98:6.1 Prior to the coming of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_cults mystery cults] and [[Christianity]], [[personal]] [[religion]] hardly [[developed]] as an [[independent]] [[institution]] in the civilized lands of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Africa North Africa] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Europe Europe]; it was more of a [[family]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_state city-state], [[political]], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult imperial] affair. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellene Hellenic Greeks] never evolved a centralized [[worship]] [[system]]; the [[ritual]] was local; they had no [[priesthood]] and no "[[Scripture|sacred book]]." Much as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Romans Romans], their [[religious]] [[institutions]] lacked a powerful driving [[agency]] for the [[preservation]] of higher [[moral]] and [[spiritual]] [[values]]. While it is true that the [[institutionalization]] of [[religion]] has usually detracted from its [[spiritual]] [[quality]], it is also a [[fact]] that no [[religion]] has thus far succeeded in [[surviving]] without the aid of [[institutional]] [[organization]] of some [[degree]], greater or lesser. | 98:6.1 Prior to the coming of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_cults mystery cults] and [[Christianity]], [[personal]] [[religion]] hardly [[developed]] as an [[independent]] [[institution]] in the civilized lands of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Africa North Africa] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Europe Europe]; it was more of a [[family]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_state city-state], [[political]], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult imperial] affair. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellene Hellenic Greeks] never evolved a centralized [[worship]] [[system]]; the [[ritual]] was local; they had no [[priesthood]] and no "[[Scripture|sacred book]]." Much as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Romans Romans], their [[religious]] [[institutions]] lacked a powerful driving [[agency]] for the [[preservation]] of higher [[moral]] and [[spiritual]] [[values]]. While it is true that the [[institutionalization]] of [[religion]] has usually detracted from its [[spiritual]] [[quality]], it is also a [[fact]] that no [[religion]] has thus far succeeded in [[surviving]] without the aid of [[institutional]] [[organization]] of some [[degree]], greater or lesser. |