Throughout history, Muggles have often considered magic to be a form of power from the gods or deities. Thus, many magical beings, at some point, were considered leaders or assumed positions of higher authority in various cultures. Often, these displays of magic were considered supernatural processes by the gods. Most of the time, these magical events could not be explained with literal reasoning and science by Muggles. Some wizards and witches of that time also considered themselves gods and goddesses for the power they possessed, believing that they could rule over others, especially the Muggles. However, what they lacked was the knowledge and intense study of magic.
Most cultures respected magical beings living in their communities and gave them the highest respect and honor as their priests, shamans, or even rulers. One such culture you have learned about would be the Olmec people. In Lesson Three, you learned that the magical beings of the Olmec community made up the top two elite classes of their culture -- the shamans and the ruler -- thus few Muggles were near as well-respected.
Over time, the Muggles started to fear and condemn these practices and decided they would like to have some of the power themselves, rather than watching others rule as they had all these years. Such feelings coincided with the rise of religions like Judaism and Christianity, which took the lead in being especially well-known for contributing to a dramatic change in Muggle-wizard relations. However, these are not the only religions in the world, nor are they the only ones that have had an impact on the history of magic. In the following sections, we will look at a few small snapshots of non-magical creeds, beliefs, and religions that had ramifications (positive, negative, or both) on the magical world.
Greek Rationalism
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The founding principles of this worldview centered around observing everything with a logical eye. If it cannot be explained by logic, then it likely isn't true or is some kind of twisted illusion. This mindset was endorsed by several Greek philosophers, but the most influential was Democritus, a skeptical philosopher, and scientist who questioned the ability of humans to rely on their senses. It was this skepticism that has led to modern science as we know it today, where we attempt to observe natural phenomena with as little human interference as possible.
Unfortunately for the magical world, this led to a very biased and judgemental outlook upon those who practiced anything close to magic. If you could not explain the magical phenomena using natural laws then it was a hoax and did not truly exist. Many rationalists of their period did not persecute witches and wizards, but they did dismiss them as irrational and sometimes accused them of blasphemy. As the popularity of the rationalistic viewpoint grew, people began to twist it and it became a threat to the wizarding communities in the 1600s.
Confucianism
Considered more of a way of life, or set of traditional values, Confucianism was taught by Confucius during the fifth and sixth centuries (BCE) in China, though it has experienced a few periods of revival since. Many followers of Confucianism did not condemn magic and simply considered it another path to reach enlightenment. More often than not, Confucianists claimed that magically fell into line with "li" or the ritualistic norms that could produce magic-like results from a ritual. As part of the wizarding world, we know that this is not true, as magic is an alteration of the world around us, but religion (if accepting of magic) often attempts to explain or incorporate magic, as we have noted.
