Religion, How did it begin?


the history of religion is as old as the history of man himself. that is what archaeologists and anthropologists tell us. even among the most “primitive,” that is to say, undeveloped, developed and civilizations, there is found evidence of worship of some form. in fact the new encyclopedia britannica says that “as far as scholars have discovered, there has never existed any people, anywhere, at any time, who were not in some sense religious.”


Besides its antiquity, religion also exists in great variety. the headhunters in the jungles of borneo, the eskimos in the frozen arctic, the nomads in the sahara desert, the unban dwellers in the great metropolises of the world—every people and every nation on earth has its god or gods and its way of worship. The diversity in religion is truly staggering.


Logically, questions come to mind. From where did all these religions come? Since there are marked differences as well as similarities among them, did they start independently, or could they have developed from one source? in fact we might ask: Why did religion begin at all? and how?


The answers to those questions are of vital importance to all who are interested in finding the thruth about religion and religious beliefs.


Question of Religion Origin

When it come to the question of origin, people of different religions think of a name such as Jesus, Holy Mary, Muhammad, the Buddha, Confucius, and so on. in almost every religion, we can find a central figure to whom credit is given to for establishing the “true faith.” Some of these were icon–oclastic reformers. Others were moralistic philosophers. Still others were selfless folk heroes. Many of them have left behind writings or sayings that formed the basis of a new religion. In time what they said and did was elabarated, embellished, and given a mystic aura. Some of these leaders were even deified.


Even though theses individuals are considered founders of the major Religions that we are familiar with today, it must be noted that they did not actually originate a religion. In most cases, their teachings grew out of existing religious ideal, even though most of these founder claimed divine inspiration as their source. Or they changed and modified existing religious systems that had become unsatisfactory in one way or another.


for example, as accurately as history can tell us, the Buddha had been a prince who was appalled by the suffering and deplorable conditions he found surrounding him in a society dominated by Hinduism. Buddhism was the result of his search for a solution to life's agoniing problems.


similarly, Muhammad was highly disturbed by the idolatry and immorality he saw in the religious practices around him. He later claimed to have received special revelations from God, which formed the Quran and became the basis of a new religious movement, islam.


Protestantism grew out of catholicism as a result of the Reformation that began in the early 16th century, when Martin Luther protested the sale of indulgences by the catholic church at that time. today we have the Protestant movement.

i can go on and on.


but again, churches of today breakup for so many reasons similarly to the above, like been not satisfied the way title money is been shared as a junior pastor, or been not satisfied with preaching and doctrine or prayer points and for this a new church is born. and every body want to be in charge or ontop to have credit for establishing a new movement as the founder can this be the reasons or similarity for so many break aware religions? a question for another day.


thus, as far as the religious now in existence are concerned, there is no lack of information regarding their origin and development, their founders, their sacred writings, and so on. but what about the religious that existed before them? And the ones even before those? if we go back far enough in history, we will sooner or later be confronted with the question: How did religion begin?

Clearly, to find the answer to that question, we must look beyond the confines of the individual religions. if you need further question and details i might be of help.


Many Theories

The study of the origin and development of religion is a comparatively new field. For centuries, people more or less accepted the religious tradition into which they were born and in which they were brought up. most of them were satisfied with the explanations handed down to them by their forefathers, feeling that their religion was the truth. There was seldom any reason to question anything, nor the need to investigate how, when, or why things got started. In fact, for centuries, with limited means of travel and communication, few people were even aware of other religious systems.

during the 19th century, however, the picture began to change. the theory of evolution was sweeping through the circles. that, along with the advent of scientific inquiry, caused many to question established systems, including religion. Recognizing the limitations of looking for clues within existing religion, some scholars turned to the world where people still lived in primitive societies. they tried to apply to these the methods of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and so forth, hoping to discover a clue as to how religion began and why.

what was the outcome? Suddenly, there burst upon the scene many theories—as many as there were investigators, it seemed—with each investigator contradicting the other, and each endeavoring to outdo the other in daring and originality. Some of these researchers arrived at important conclusions; the work of others has simply been forgotten. it is both educational and enlightening for us to get a glimpse of the results of this research. it will help us gain a better understanding of the religious attitudes among people we meet.

thank you.

Joel.

Religion began with Paganism.