Egyptian Culture - continued

2) Egyptians believed the body did not die, but survived in some kind of existence awaiting the departed soul (ka).

They developed a process to preserve bodies, which used the herb mum and that is why we call those preserved humans and animals "mummies." Pyramids were designed to house the country's leaders to ensure that the physical body survived to be reanimated when the ka came back. Many humans today still believe in a soul.

The Egyptians, Sumerians and other cultures swapped many religious ideas, but the Egyptians came up with a concept that was not only original, but surpassed everything else in the religious realm.

Next: Egypt's Heretic Pharaoh Introduces Monotheism

If you are enjoying Bill's "Before Religion" history articles, you should take a look at his  newly published  book on religious history co-authored with Mark Sullivan.  Called Comparative Religion for Dummies, the text compares and contrasts the three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Published internationally by Wiley Press, the second largest American publishing company, the book focuses on a topic of extreme importance in today's world -- the on-going battles among fundamentalists in all religions.  The book is designed to help people begin to recognize how much these religions have in common.

This is the third book Lazarus has written.  The first, published back in 1992, dealt with quality issues in education.  The second, released in 2004, covered the 100 years of racing history in Daytona Beach between