Surely, something must've brought people together. Maybe they wanted to get to point B from point A and it was better done together.
It may have been more simple than that. My grandparents could remember the days before TV--and lived in an area and a time--where radios were not all that common, either. After dinner, people would go for a walk, or sit out on their front porch, and walkers and sitters would gather together on a porch and talk about news and daily events. My grandmother remembers her mother (who lived in a tar-paper shack out on the prairie) tell of stories of going out each day and looking every direction so she would not miss a person passing by and an opportunity for a visit.
Sounds like more of a small town atmosphere where people knew each other. The community or neighborhood I live in now is a bit like that. I grew up in an urban center, so it wasn't like that while growing up.
Anyway, I think what brings people together are the Bible and the church. There are other churches that practice differently, but there is the one common ground of meeting on Sundays and doing other activities during the week. That way one isn't as isolated so much at work and at home.
That's one of the reasons why we have moral law in the US; It's based on the Ten Commandments. Oh, we can't keep them but it's something to shoot for. I think it reminds us that we are sinful creatures and that none of us are without sin. Thus, we end up going to church so we are not tempted into greater sin. I'm not sure what the atheists do since they are just isolated and by themselves. I don't think they have any morals and ethics except for politics. I think we had that during the pre-flood days, but it was more crazier as divine beings walked among those that were human. I think what happened was the innocent weren't safe anymore as the ones without morals were preying upon them. Maybe violence was the norm. I dunno, but it's hard to imagine.
Today, we live under the law of Moses or actually what sprang out of it -- the law of Jesus, but you notice it is changing for the worse. Things are becoming more and more contrary to what the Bible states.
What I am most familiar with, in terms of other religions, are what the Buddhists teach and that is karma is what ends up judging one's performance in life. They have the five precepts of:
"On the most basic level, there are five moral standards by which anyone who decides to take refuge in the Buddha must follow. Essentially these are the five moral laws of Buddhism. The first is to refrain from killing, which extends to food, making many Buddhists vegetarians. The next two are to refrain from stealing and any sort of sexual misconduct. The final two are refraining from false speech, which includes not only lies but also harmful words, and from the use of substances which alter the mind."
Buddhist Morals and Guidelines | Synonym
ETA: I haven't really heard about refraining from killing extending to food, but maybe some churches practice it.
