Quote Originally Posted by fetishdj View Post
... the ability to record information in books, something which was driven ironically enough by religion...
I think this was probably driven more by economics than by religion. The necessity of recording transactions, keeping track of the flow of goods and money, and especially taxation, required writing and long term storage of information.

True, religion also promoted literacy, but mostly among the religious and the ruling classes, not among the peasantry. At least not until much later, after the advent of the printing press.

This is a simplification, of course. Throughout much of history, and much of the world, religion and government frequently went hand in hand, sometimes to the point of being indistinguishable.