Why is it that a major religion never started in the West?

Question

Christianity along with Judaism and Islam all started in the Middle East. Buddhism and the Hindu faith are from Asia. We had our religions in the west Thor from the Vikings, Apollo from the Greeks but instead we adopted more Eastern philosophies when it came to religion. It's funny isn't it that the Western God's were more about power and control while those of the East are more contemplative and about inner spirituality?

Answer 1

God chooses whome to deliver His message and which part of the world to be that. He does not consider the smartness or color but looks unto the heart. But God did sent messengers to every nation.

Answer 2

Considering that is where life as we know it began, it makes sense that the major religions began there. Anything after that has pretty much been some guy wanting to feed their ego, examples are Napoleon, Hitler, Saddam, Joseph Smith, Osama, Jim Jones, Waco Texas fiasco, Oklahoma City fiasco, etc.. It is all the interpretation of the charismatic "leader". The rules given to Abraham and Moses are pretty straight forward. The fact that Paganism had been absorbed into Judaism and Christianity should show that there really are some basic "rules" for living a decent life, it is just that their interpretations get changed. Man made those changes, if one looks back to the historical origins, one will find there was a much better balance of inner and outer spirituality, take care of yourself and the people around you, but it should never be out of balance. There are so many people who are co-dependent and feel lost without someone to tell them what to do. This wasn't the case all those years ago. Not to imply that there weren't people who were doing bad things, that has always been the case.

Answer 3

I think that in the first place Europe was divided and constantly being invaded by different tribes until the Romans controlled it and ti began stabilise. Christianity along with Judaism and Mohammedanism arose in and around the area of Canaan because it was on the route between Europe, Asia and Africa and was a very fertile area so the people who occupied it needed to be strong and a powerful religion helps to unite people. When the Romans adopted Christianity as they official religion even though is was the east Roman empire it still formed a coherent force able to send out priests to convert the tribes of Europe.

Answer 4

its going to be difficult for you to get a meaningful answer here.

why not try ask this question in the Philosophy category, the answerers there are pretty open minded.

good luck in your astute observation, although i believe that in the past most of the continents were connected together and eventually separated over millions of years. differences in western or eastern philosophies were probably due to geographic boundaries and lack of contact with each other.

hmm not sure about western focus on power, what about Tom Cruise's take on Scientology. And what about Satanism, suicide cults. Don't forget the Red Indians and their forgotten beliefs on peace. Aborigines in any western country are bound to have their own forgotten religion due to lack of historical records. A religion becomes major as long as there are written records. Paper of course were available from the middle east and china (and possibly other countries). If not paper, technology to write on stone was crucial. It could very well be that the early western aboriginal cultures were so cut off from trade and the rest of the world that they lacked these methods of historical records.

Also there is strong difference between Asian religions and Middle eastern religions. So it's not just East vs West, its East, Middle vs West. In fact, even in the Middle, African and Indian religions are very different from the rest.

Answer 5

The farther West's native peoples had their divine educators. Since they had no written languages, however, none of their teachings got written down and no major civilizations grew from those religions because the followers were nomadic and didn't settle down and make large towns or cities. Then along came those Europeans with the middle eastern religion and wiped out the native religions along with most of the native peoples.

Answer 6

No. Every religion starts in their own tribe, culture or civilization. If, when and where they spread to, is another different story. And of course, how long they last. What we have today is a world where a few religions took control and conquered and killed their way into other parts of the world.

Answer 7

You can be very contemplative about inner spirituality even as a Christian. It's just that many don't exercise their own individual spiritual relationship with God.
A small nomadic tribe was chosen to be God's people. Many prophets emerged from that race proclaiming salvation for human beings. Without this there would be no hope for mankind. The prophets foretold that a young man in His early thirties would suffer terrible torture and abuse before He was finally nailed to a cross and left to bleed to death in agony. I don't know of any other man that would do that for me and you? Jesus said: "Many will come in my name". And many did over the centuries, confusing and misleading people for their own power, control and greed for money.
Jesus is the "Light, the Way and the Truth". Weather we are north, south, east or west on the globe He is the only one who can save us.

Answer 8

It had a lot to do with history being a written account. Oral tradition doesn't have the staying power, of words, carved in stone. It also has to do with flint tipped arrows against lead missles launched by exotic chemicals through a tempered metal tube, aimed with deadly accuracy over a period of several centuries.

Or maybe; Prophets come from regions where heat stroke is common.

Answer 9

If you accept Paul Tillich's definition of faith as ultimate concern, the major religion which began in the West is called modernity.

Answer 10

There are many Native American religions - like the Aztec ones. But people tend not to follow the religions of conquered peoples.

That said, Mormonism (LDS) will become the predominate denomination in the US within 30 years due to their high birth rate. That started in the US.

Answer 11

pagean gods were usurped into a Christian religion, and others all over the world..cool eh. As for the Eastern religions being all about contemplation and inner peace, how do you explain 9/11 and 7/7? Inner peace for the deluded and terror for the victims and family.