What is the oldest religion on the planet?

Religion is an integral part of almost everyone's life. The need to worship the higher powers is expressed in the spiritual awareness of the world and belief in the supernatural. There is an interesting question about which is the most ancient religion, how it originated and developed.

After studying all the available information on the Paleolithic period, scientists came to the conclusion that people of this era developed spiritual relations, as indicated by the customs of the ritual burials of that time, as well as rock carvings. Most likely, our ancestors believed that the world is inhabited by deities, and various places and objects of nature were considered alive. In addition, the customs of burial give us an idea of faith in the afterlife.

But still, what was the oldest religion? The answers to the question depend on the position taken by different authors studying the origin of man. Some argue that religion was artificially created by man, and was not the result of evolutionary development. So, according to this view, a woman and a man knew only one God who created them, they worshiped him, bringing various sacrifices. The monotheism and sacrifice described in the Bible were the first characteristics of religion in its original form. Evidence of this can serve as the oldest literary monuments of China, Greece, Egypt and the traditions of many peoples.

But there is another point of view based on Darwin's theory of evolution. According to her, a long period of time was required for the formation and development of religious beliefs. At first these beliefs were based on the worship of people to the spirits, because fear arose over their power. Then Israel reduces the diversity of the gods of different nations to one tribal god, which paved the way for the improvement of religion as such.

Considering which religion is the oldest, it should be noted that in modern times on Earth there is a large number of religious trends, the so-called spiritual knowledge, which are divided into several systems. Thus, the primary teaching includes the Aryan - Vedantism (mystery). Then it was transformed into Brahmanism, and then into Buddhism. The Aryan traditions were adopted by the Russian prehistoric religion, so paganism appeared - the worship of the elements. These beliefs were not completely defeated, and within a few millennia the religion of ancient Rome and ancient Greece developed on their basis .

The culture of Egypt and Babylon became the basis for the birth of knowledge, which is partially transmitted to us in the Bible (therefore the view that Christianity is the oldest religion, is mistaken). On their basis, the philosophy of Plato developed , which had a great influence on the spiritual development of the whole of Europe. In addition, these teachings formed the basis of the religion of ancient Judea, which will later be based on Christianity. The knowledge of the ancient Egyptian civilization, Jews and Christians is partially preserved in Islam.

The Black race practiced ceremonial magic, preserving the rituals and customs of African sorcerers. The yellow race gave rise to the teachings of Lao Tzu (Zionism), as well as shamanism, Zen Buddhism and Shinto.

Thus, one can not say with precision which is the oldest religion on earth, since from the earliest times all knowledge, rites, rituals and customs were spread during the mixing of peoples and the migration of tribes. So, the idea of sacrifice first belonged to the civilization of the black race, later it was adopted by the peoples of all continents and there was more than one millennium on Earth.

Thus, the answer to the question of which is the most ancient religion On the planet, is ambiguous, and depends on the worldviews and views of historians.