Which was the very first religion?

Question

If possible please sight sources.
I think the pagan religions were first but am not completely positive.

Sorry, should have said this sooner. Could you please explain the religion?(Please no super long answers or I won't read it.)
Thanks.

I'm not looking for Biblical evidence. I don't believe the Bible is true and i'm not Christian so it won't work with me.

S.O.T.C: Why does the Bible not mention when God made those people that Cain went to after he killed his brother? Where did they come from?

Juliu C, I have 38 answers.

Answer 1

Animism.

Answer 2

It may have been ancestor worship. Children often revere their parents, especially young children. The first child to have a parent die may have been the first human to pray to a incorporeal entity, (basically asking their parent to help them in some way, even though the parent was no longer there). Our parents leave a huge imprint in our psyche. Even today, many religions revere a spiritual parent figure.

Sun worship is a likely candidate as well. After all, the sun is pretty impressive, and if you don't really have any idea what it is, you might assume it is a god.

Another possibility would be that the first gods that were worshiped were aliens that landed on earth and interacted with our primitive ancestors. That would explain all the ancient stories of divine entities coming down from the heavens and speaking to man. It would also explain the stories of the gods teaching mankind things like agriculture, music, and medicine, (its really amazing how many ancient people claimed that almost all of their knowledge was granted by gods. You would think that they would want to take some credit for all the stuff they figured out how to do).

Answer 3

The very first religion was whatever the cavemen practiced - potentially animism, but there's not a whole lot of evidence into what their beliefs were, other than some cave paintings. (And, for all we know, those cave paintings may have been a later development, so to speak.)

According to the OT, Judaism (or, perhaps more accurately, proto-Judaism) was the first, though if you reject the OT's authority, you're not going to take their word for it.

Vedism, which Hinduism grew out of, has been around for a pretty long time as well, longer than most of the other Indo-European beliefs. If you treat Vedism and Hinduism as the same, they've got a pretty strong claim towards being the longest-lived out of the currently practiced religions. The only thing that'll give them a run for their money is the tribal religions, such as the Aborigines' beliefs.

Answer 4

The religions of the world may be enumerated as follows:
1. Hinduism, the most ancient
2. The Hebrew religion
3. Buddhism
4. The Confucian teachings
5. The Taoist beliefs
6. Zoroastrianism
7. Shinto
8. Jainism
9. Christianity
10 Islam
11 Sikhism

Answer 5

It would be very hard to say which religion was 'first' with proven sources, because the first religions are lost back in pre-history.

We do know from examining the contents of pyramids, burial mounds and other ancient gravesites, that even the very earliest humans placed the belongings of a fellow human in the grave/mound or on the fire after death, which does seem to suggest some idea of ~ or wish for ~ an afterlife.

From ancient drawings and middens we can ascertain that ceremonies involving sacred vessels and rituals of some significance were conducted everywhere around the world.

It's sure that people around the world have variously honoured in some religious way lightning, fire, the moon, the sun, things of the earth such as trees and stones, animals (or the spirit which the animal represents), gods with animate or human forms, images they made themselves, and concepts.

But which was first ~ impossible to say with certainty.

However, it seems logical that as 'old' gods came to be understood as things over which humans had power or control, new less 'knowable' gods replaced them, so the gods one could touch fell out of favour and were replaced by the intangible.

And of course, once people began to own land and property, it stopped having a spiritual significance for them ~ unless you think (as I suspect) that power is the ultimate religious high for many people.

Best wishes! :-)

Answer 6

Hinduism is the oldest documented religion that is still in practice today. The keywords are "documented" and "still in practice today". Although there may have been other older religions, often times they were practiced in oral societies or they do not have an unbroken history of practice. Also, Hinduism does not have a central leader and contains many different beliefs and practices.

"Hinduism is generally regarded as the world's oldest organized religion."
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism.htm

"Hinduism is the major religion of India, practiced by more than 80% of the population. In contrast to other religions, it has no founder. Considered the oldest religion in the world, it dates back, perhaps, to prehistoric times."
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001469.html

"... The Sanskrit word ric, which for euphonic reasons is changed to rig, means literally "praise". ... The Sanskrit word veda means literally "knowledge" or "wisdom". ... The Rig-Veda is the oldest book in the Sanskrit language, indeed in any Indo-European language. More than that, if we are correct, it is the oldest book in the world ... The fact that the Rig-Veda mentions a stellar configuration that corresponds to a date from 6000 B.C. to 7000 B.C. - the astronomical Ashvini era ..."
http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/RgVeda.html

Answer 7

most probably the worship of Fire, or Animals.

primative men had a tendency to worship the things that kept them alive.

Pagan religions definatly were around long before any Monotheistic religion.

Celtic Paganism can be dated back almost 10,000 years (jean merkale, Druids, Celtic priest's of nature) and archeological evidence shows a strong following of Celtic gods throughout europe. especially in Gaul (France) Ireland, England and Germany.

the Native Americans trace their History back over 15000 years through verbal legacy (Medicine Man Blackhawk Eagleowl, Apache)

Wicca is only about 60 years old (started in the early 1950's by Gerald Gardner,)

and Christianity is slightly over 2000 years old, if you count the birth of christ as it's start. Islam is about the same.

and Judaism is only about 5000 or 6000 years old.

and nobody knows how far back the indigenous tribes in Africa has helt their beliefs, but many would guess that it os thousands older than the Native Americans.

Answer 8

There is not enough evidence to say what the very first religion was. However, in general terms it would be considered pagan by today's standers. Archaeological evidence points to a religious system that worshiped objects of nature and animals, this was followed by ancestor worship.
Both of these things can be found in the oldest and largest current day religion Hinduism.

Answer 9

Here's a timeline, hope this helps.
Rough Timeline: 2,085 BC = Judaism, 1,500 BC = Hinduism, 560 BC = Buddhism, 550 BC = Taoism, 628 BC = Zoroastrianism, 599 BC = Jainism, 30 AD = Christianity, 50-100 AD = Gnosticism, 150-250 AD = Modalism (Monarchianism)?Sabellius, Praxeus, Noetus, Paul of Samosata, 325 AD. -After being persecuted for almost 200 years Constantine made Christianity a legal religion, compromise enters, 590 AD = Roman Catholicism -Developed after Constantine, 610 AD = Islam -original manuscript was burned up.

Answer 10

The oldest known religion is very prehistoric, and its only surviving evidence is a rock carved in the form of a python, which archaeologists found with various artifacts that suggest some sort of worshipping was done, and was carbon dated to about 70,000 years ago. Thats pretty old.
Its interesting that the creator deity in ancient sumeria had allusions to some python-god.

Answer 11

I believe that that Judeo-Christian religion was the first. Adam and Eve were the first people, and they passed down worship of the Creator God (of the Bible) to their offspring. By the time of the Flood 1600 years later, there were only 8 people left who were still worshipping the Creator God (YHWH/Jehovah/Jesus). These became the only ones who were saved from the Flood. Noah and his family were very aware of this God, and handed down the stories of Creation to their offspring and succeeding generations. You should keep in mind that the patriarchs from Adam to Noah lived for almost a thousand years, while Noah lived a little less, and every succeeding generation lived a little less. So there was always a living eyewitness to the creation. Adam lived long enough to know Noah's father Lamech, so it's not like it was a story that lost details as it was handed down through generations. It was an eyewitness account. Noah's children, Shem, Ham and Japheth, lived long enough to know Abraham, who was the father of the Hebrews, so again the account of Creation could not be lost through multiple generations of tellings.
Only a few generations after the Flood, Noah's great-grandson, Nimrod, founded a great city, and built the Tower of Babel. He was a great hunter and was greatly honored by the people, until Shem, his great-uncle, killed him because he had offended the Lord by leading the people into Sun worship. NImrod's wife, Semiramis, later claimed that her husband actually ascended into the Sun, and now was the Sun God. Most pagan religions today are descended from the worship of Nimrod, or Sun worship. After his death, Semiramis found herself pregnant, and claimed that the Sun God had impregnated her. When she gave birth, her son Tammuz was also deified. All "female worship" pagan religions stem from worship of Semiramis. She has been given many names over the ages and in different countries, but they all represent her.
Her son Tammuz also became a great hunter like his father, but not so great - he was killed by a wild boar. This is where many pagan traditions adopted by the Catholic Church in early Christianity come from - such as Christmas trees and presents. Catholics have traditionally observed the period of Lent as a period of fasting because of Tammuz' death, and then at the end of Lent, they celebrate by eating the "pig" that killed him - the "Easter ham". ("Easter" means "Ishtar" - an ancient name for Semiramis, who had been given status as a fertility goddess - thus the rabbits and eggs.)
Meanwhile, Abraham is keeping the true faith of Adam and Noah all this time, handing down the faith quite meticulously to each generation, until the time of 400 years slavery in Egypt, when the Hebrews became affected by the pagan culture they were in. Moses came along and renewed the faith due to his direct contact with the Creator God who spoke to Noah. The Hebrews then kept the faith until the time of Christ, who officially ended the stewardship of the faith of the Hebrews and gave it to the whole world.
Today we have those who keep the true faith of the Creator God and those who follow the old post-Flood pagan religions. Only one is correct. Which will you follow?