Theology students may criticize historical accuracy, but I found this piece quite interesting. "Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are five of the biggest religions in the world. Over the last few thousand years, these religious groups have shaped the course of history and had a profound influence on the trajectory of the human race. Through countless conflicts, conquests, missions abroad, and simple word of mouth, these religions spread around the globe and forever molded the huge geographic regions in their paths." http://www.businessinsider.com/map-shows-how-religion-spread-around-the-world-2015-6
Its a sham then, that people will try to force down their religion down someone else's throat, I really detest that...anything done forcefully never reaps good fruits in the end!
When people truly believe they are just an 100% right, they will spread their faith by any which means necessary. Preaching, war, brainwashing their children, killing people in the name of their faith. Religion in general has to be scrutinized more, and for the most part they need to stop preparing for a after life in heaven, when they cannot prove that it actually exist. Most of them live their whole lives in hope to get to the pearly gates. Does it exist? Nope, show me some proof that it does.
Huh? Confuzzled' on comments above. I thought this OP was a curiosity piece illustratinbof the spread of faith around tinhe planet.bu
As the posters above mentioned, the major religions did spread through conquest and enforcing state religions (and I would say through trade relations with other nations as well). Though in these cases they were not giving a religion to an irreligious people, they were changing the religion of an already religious people. The presence of religion is dependent on the powerful who create and in many ways enforce religions, or even just a particular reading of a religion, but is also dependent on people who want to be religious. Through anthropological studies we can see the beginnings of spirituality in burial rites, namely burying people with belongings (e.g. swords or coins) so they could make use of them in the afterlife. Also we see the primordial gods being portrayed as gods of natural forces that are beyond our control as humans. For example, the sea can be treacherous, and eventually people posited a sea god who they can pray and sacrifice to. By thinking of the god of the harvest, god of war, god of the sea, god of fertility, etc. humans could believe they had some sort of influence on the outcome of their lives and endeavors. People who don't have access to education and who don't learn how to think for themselves or cope with a finite world have a psychological dependence on the idea of god(s). Each of these religions, in addition to being enforced by the powerful, have strong stories that fulfill certain psychological desires for people.
Interesting video there, thanks for sharing. Religions will continue to spread according to different cultures, but the core of religion is always the same, whether we like it or not.
Good read, business insider always has some great articles like this. I think besides money, religion is one of the major historical factors in our history and it's important to know the whys and hows.
Religions have spread throughout by various means as you mentioned. One simple method is the migration of members of a religion to a new location which forms the basis of missionary work. Unfortunately, wars and conquests have been methods used by some religious groups to spread or impose their religious beliefs. I definitely don't agree with imposing religious beliefs on others but rather we should share beliefs politely and allow others to make their own choices. Then, we have modern technology such as the internet, satellite etc. that has made spreading of religions much easier and quicker.
To me it doesn't matter who started religion or who's eventually gonna end it. What matters is what you personally believe, what matters is your own spirituality and faith. These 5 religions may have held a lot of history but we all experience the sands of time differently. We choose what will make up the bulk of our experience in the world and I choose not to dwell on religion.
If the religion is distributed peaceful then it is absolutely OK but if it is spread in a brutal way then there is a problem. Nevertheless there are a lot of people who only care which religion other people have and they are doing that only because they want that everyone has the same religion and the same thinking like them. That is the reason we have a lot of wars between different religions and not because of those people who really believe in god.
