ANSWERS: 51
  • Zoroastrianism began back in the 13th or 14th century B.C.E started by Zarathustra.If you are speaking of a verified religion this is the earliest recorded religion.
  • Hinduism. It is the world's oldest known extant religion. Evidence suggest Hinduism has roots in the late Neolithic period.
  • Pagans probably. They idolized their gods into statues & worshiped them. The closest thing to that is Hinduism right now.
  • Jewish. i thnk...
  • Probably the early agricultural communities who worshiped nature and the cycle of the seasons.
  • recorded would be judism but the bible makes referance to abraham being a pagan worshipping the moon and such.
  • Paganism. It's not only the oldest, but the longest worshipped. All religions, even Judism, started out Pagan switching over from matriarchal to patriarchal and finally monotheism at about the same time we discovered writing. There has never been a time in history in which it has not been practiced in some part of the world. A good book for you would be "The Goddess and the Alphabet." It goes through each religion and how it changed over time.
  • We can only know how long particular belief systems have existed by the documents they leave behind. The religions of societies which had/have no writing cannot be given an age. Most people think of religions as being fixed, but even the ones that have holy books have undergone great changes over their history. Sometimes this has only been in way of worship, but for some, it has been in belief as well. So which is the oldest one of which we have written records? The first possibility could be Hinduism. Its most ancient text, the Rig Veda, was composed 1700–1100 BCE having taken into account the language used. It records the beliefs of the Aryans, a tribal people just beginning to settle down in North India/Pakistan, Nepal/ Bangladesh/AFghanistan at this time. It was polytheistic, with its chief gods (deva) and goddesses (devi) representatives of nature. Chief of the gods was Indra, the sky god. Others were Agni, the Fire, Vayu the Wind, Soma, Rudra, Varuna and the Celestial twins, the Ashvins. The goddesses included Gangga the Water, Uma/Prthivi the Earth Mother and Saraswati, the Arts. These names appear in the mythology of other related peoples such as the Mitanni and the Irani, so must be counted as the gods of the Indo-europeans, ancestors of these peoples who left their homeland in the Caucausus c 6000 BC and spread to the Indian subcontinent, to Persia, and to Europe in many waves. Though these names are peculiar to the Indo-Iranian tribes, the beliefs were very similar to those of other related peoples such as the Greeks, the Romans and the Norse tribes, about whose religion we know much. All their pantheons were ruled by a Sky Father and an Earth Mother, included the Wind, the Thunder, the Lawgiver and the Celestial twins. All were opposed by an older group of gods whom they had deposed, called in Hinduism the Asura, in Irani as Ahura (although the roles were transposed in the later development of Irani religion Zoroastrianism, with the ahuras becoming the gods and the daevas the oposition/demons). Modern Hinduism is very removed from this ancient tribal religion. The positions of the original gods of the Rig Veda have been usurped by later gods, which may have been gods of the conquered peoples, gods such as Siva, Brahma, and Vishnu. Many forms of modern hinduism exist, as many as there are interpretations of the variety of books counted as scriptures (including the the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Puranas, Agamas and Darshanas. But is Hinduism the oldest existing religion? We have established that present-day Hinduism can trace itself lineally back to the Rig-Veda, even if the teachings of the Rig-Veda have been eclipsed by much later teaching, but are there other religions as old, and which are attested by a holy book? The answer is yes. One other. The Judeo-Christian religion. Like Hinduism, there have been developments, with both the Jews and Christians claiming a progressive (but now finished) revelation from God. But, as with Hinduism, there is a very old part of the Bible that dates from a comparable time to the Hindu Rig Veda. That is Genesis. Both Jews and Christians are in agreement that the first five books of the Old TEstament came together under Moses, who lived, according to various theories anywhere between 1648 BC to 1200 BC. Yet, the Genesis narratives date, from abundant linguistic and cultural evidence found within, from before that, from between 2000 and 1600 BC. It is probable that the educated Moses (raised in the Egyptian court, but also well-taught by his real mother) recorded verbatim earlier records available to him (either oral or written). If so, the narrator/writer was almost certainly Abraham, whose dates are between 2000BC and 1800 BC. That ABraham could write is more than probable- he came from a prominent Mesopotamian trading family, with ties to several major cities along the Tigris-Euphrates. Abraham was "called out" by his God and told to go hundreds of miles away to Canaan, there to start a new nation, which eventually became the Jews. So, we have abundant records of two major religious systems which are first recorded quite close in time to each other- Hinduism and Judaism. No doubt there were other systems: the same Genesis records give us glimpses of the Semitic religion of Mesopotamia out of which came Abraham, with a totally different set of beliefs, and about which a lot is now known, due to the discovery of texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the great libaries of Semitic literature in the ruins of cities such as Niniveh and Ebla. And then there is Egypt, which was functioning at the same time too. But the religions of the Semitic peoples and the Egyptians are no longer practiced by the peoples whose ancestors believed in them, though there are some in the western world, who have attempted to revive them. But Hinduism and the Judeo-Christian belief still exist.
  • I agree hinduism... But also I think: American Indians Various other types of tribal religions too...
  • Religion is as old as humans themselves. The cult of human skulls dates to the stone age with various sites in Germany (Mauer and Steinheim), England (Swanscombe), Italy (Monte Circeo), China (Dragon-bone hill near Choukoutien) and elsewhere. Other cults include the Cult of Bear Skulls and the Cult of the Dead. These are the oldest religions yet discovered.
  • so atheism must be the newest religion. all these ism's makes my head spin. Is buddhism a religion or a philosophy? Whats the difference?, belief is belief. Since it all came out of our heads (modern and ancient) I guess we really just worship ourselves. If we all cease to exist is there still a religion?
  • The religion of narcissism
  • Paganism. Non-Abrahamic religion.
  • Hinduism. Of course, as with all religions, it has evolved over time.
  • Possibly Zoroastrianism, but not completely sure. It originated in Persia, centuries before the Greek Olympian pantheon. Zoroastrianism still exists - Freddy Mercury followed its doctrine.
  • Hinduism is generally considered to be the oldest religion still being practiced today. This ancient religion was born when the Aryan peoples migrated to Northern India and first put their religious tradition into writing. The texts they created are the Vedas, which were written around 1,500 B.C.E. (before common era) and have greatly influenced Indian culture ever since. Several other religions are almost as old as Hinduism. Judaism traces its roots back to the patriarch Abraham, who lived around 1,800 B.C.E. While the Jewish people are descended from Abraham, it was Moses who first recorded the Torah, the Jewish holy text, in 1,400 B.C.E. Most sources consider the date of the Torah as the beginning of Judaism. Zoroastrianism is sometimes called the world's oldest prophetic religion. It's certainly one of the earliest religions founded by one person. Scholars are not certain when the founding prophet Zarathustra actually lived. Some believe Zarathustra lived in the 6th century B.C.E., while others trace his writings to the 14th or 13th centuries B.C.E. India has been a veritable cradle for world religions -- in addition to Hinduism, both Jainism and Buddhism originated in India. The first of Jainism's sacred lords, called a Tirthankara, lived in the 8th century B.C.E. The last of these lords was Mahavir, who lived in the 5th century B.C.E. and was a key figure in spreading the religion. The philosophical teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, spread around Asia after his death in 483 B.C.E. Oddly enough, the two religions that dominate the world today are relative newcomers to the spiritual scene. Christianity began with the teachings of Jesus Christ around 30 C.E., and Islam started in 610 C.E. with the prophet Muhammad's revelation. http://www.shortenurl.com/4hwsy
  • Hinduism or Buddhism. =D
  • Religions have come and gone throughout the ages. There are religions that are so old their rituals, customs, doctrines, and practices are lost to antiquity. The oldest recorded religion that is still practiced is Hinduism. There may be others.
  • Dravidianism is the oldest recorded religion. It is estimated to have been practiced around 6,000 to 3,000 BCE and as such predates the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian cultures. It predates even Hinduism, however much of Hinduism was derived from Dravidianism.
  • Hinduism and Judaism are the oldest major religions currently practiced. Of course if you compare modern Hindus and Jews with their ancient forebearers, you would see marked differences. For instance ancient Hindus probably ate meat. Anciet Jews probably sacrificed goats to thier diety.
  • "Dravidianism" was the first major organized religion that was spread openly ... it is possible that there may have been secret ones that are older, but no records have been found.
  • The oldest known religion has been discovered in Botswana Africa that is estimated to have existed over 70,000 yrs ago. http://www.afrol.com/articles/23093 The Australian Aboriginals have had a religion for over 40,000 yrs and are still practicing.
  • Yoruba Traditional Religion formed about 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. It started the cradle of civilization.
  • Oh I see. Very interesting. The Bhagavad Gita is a beautiful work.
  • I will gom with Animism, the worship of animals and also nature being the oldest of religions. Now for the oldest of existing religions, it would likely come down to Hinduism, and Wicca within Paganism. But then again if you go for the longest lasting religion without interruption and a very strong number of followers, I would say hands down it was Hinduism. But it's amazing that so many reliions faded out that made more sense than any that are now practived in numbers. Paganism and the worship of nature probably makes most sense in that any diety is commesurate of what you expect of it and that you honor it and are a caretaker of your environment. The concept of heaven and rewards after this life really serve only to suppress people, make them happy slave, and circumventing them to obedience expecting a reward later for suffering now.
  • The sanatanadharma (true religion)...what we in error refer to as "hinduism" is probably the oldest continuing religious body...The Upanishads and Vedas brought East by the aryan races as they left the old persian Empire laid the foundational writings for todays' Hinduism. The Upanishads and other early writings have been dated at around 1600 BCE.
  • Hinduism is oldest religion in the world. All religions derived from hinduism only. We can understand secrete of universe, science, Medicine and every thing can be known by Vedas.
  • The Sumerian Religion older then hinduism and Mayan.
  • Thank you Deep Blue-- Judaism is one of the most ancient religons practiced, people--all of that stuff was categorized under one religon which derived from Hinduism from whic all these religons came from Judaism. Judaism is the base of all religon- the base of the Old Testament and the Jewish Bible.
  • The Vedic Religion of the "Hindus" go back to undated past. And it is still being practiced by vast majority of people in South East Asia. This includes variations such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism etc. Due to strict adherence to rules of recitation Vedic chanting has not changed for thousands of years.
  • Hinduism is generally regarded as the world's oldest organized religion. http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism.htm It consists of "thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in India since 1500 BCE."
  • Shamanism.
  • The five major religions still surviving today in order of "age" are Hinduism (it predates recorded history - no one really knows when it began) Judaism Buddhism Christianity Islam Source - high school Humanities class.
  • Probably Egyptian beliefs
  • Islam was founded in 7th Century AD My answer is Jainism which was founded in 6th Century BC.India
  • no doubt that hinduism is oldest religion, they have wriiten vedas and other proof
  • Probably Paganism
  • the oldest verified religion that almost every religion gets some of its veiws from is wicca, paganism, they all fall under witchcraft, or better yet earth based religions. they are the ones that still follow some of the rites that 1st started the religions.
  • Nudism. Clearly described in Genesis.
  • There is no point in discussing the question and all the religion preaches to go towards eternity, love towards mankind.
  • Humanism.Sadly, it's a forgotten concept now a days.
  • Hinduism as we know it today was borne out of the Vedas, the oldest of which is the Rigveda, dated to 1700–1100 BCE. It has its roots in ancient harappan religion, from which the Vedas evolved. The Harappan civilization dates back 5000 to 3000 years.
  • Going by archaeological evidence, the oldest extant religion is that of the Australian Aborigines. Period. End of discussion. No other religion even comes close to its age. Complex religious pictograms found at two sites near Penrith and Lake Mungo in New South Wales and 1 site in Western Australia detail the Aboriginal belief in "The Dreaming" (i.e., the period of time in which the 'Wodjina' created, formed, and differentiated the world). These sites date from 45,000 BCE to 38,000 BCE respectively. Thus, the Australian Aboriginal religion must be at least 47,000 years old. Sorry, folks: Hinduism, Jainism, Dravidianism, Judaism, and Buddhism are infants by comparison. And the evidence found in Botswana is NOT evidence of RELIGION like the newspaper article claims; it is evidence of RITUAL... and there's a big difference between the two, especially within the field of anthropology. Religion specifically deals with divine transcendent reality; ritualism simply deals with repetitive actions done for ceremonial purposes (such as burial of the dead). Such rites do not constitute religious belief, nor are they contingent upon religious belief. The fact that the Bushman of Botswana CURRENTLY have religious beliefs based on snakes does not mean that the finding of a single 70,000 year old snake carving is evidence of religious belief; the religious beliefs about snakes may have arisen much later in the history of the Bushman culture. Unless 70,000 year old pictographs or carvings are found that delineate a specific religious tradition (and not simply an animal), the finding of the snake carving simply proves ritual and nothing else.
  • Illuminism founded in the dawn of time as a sociological system. the original 24 Kings & Queens of our Global Kingdom. They were called the 24 Elders & each of these men & women became the leaders of a tribe known as the mothers & fathers of the tribe. In the process of building this kingdom the Elders decided the population would be 1 billion plus. They then decided each Demi-God would have 12 assistants & those assistants where called the 144 Chiefs. The Elders then divided each tribe in to 6 clans and put 2 Chiefs at the head of each clan. They were man & wife or joint Chiefs of each clan. There were 72 in the kingdom as a whole. The 144 Chiefs were all given 1000 assistants & they were called Judges. They were called Judges because they were the ancient astronomers who read the Universe to foresee the future. Now, the total number of people on Earth became 144000 plus the 144 Chiefs & 24 Elders. The Judges had every town in pairs as well as wife & husband being the 2 Judges of each town. There were originally 72000 towns & 6000 in every tribe. So, the ancient Nubian global society structure had 12 countries divided into 6 clans; each divided into100 districts & each district had 10 towns, with 2 Judges. This is how civilization began & how the elders say “God became 1B8M”. 1,800,000 is what the Nubians call the Balance of the Universe. The original DIVINE WORLD ORDER much like the Zionist are trying to do now. Kill off 2/3 of the world population. Check out Chemtrails on youtube! Osara
  • ISLAM: The Religion of All Prophets Hinduism is not the oldest of all the religions. It is Islam which is the first and the oldest of all religions. People have a misconception that Islam is 1400 years old and that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the founder of this religion. Islam existed since time immemorial, ever since man first set foot on this earth. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was not the founder of Islam. He was the last and final Messenger of Almighty God. Islam is the religion of Adam (peace be upon him), the religion of Noah (peace be upon him), ... the religion of Abraham (peace be upon him),..., the religion of Moses (peace be upon him), the religion of Jesus (peace be upon him), and it is the religion of the seal of prophets: Muhammad (peace be upon him) ISLAM is not a new religion but the final culmination and fulfillment of the same basic truth that ALLAH (God) revealed through all His prophets to every people. Islam (in Arabic) means the total submisiion to the will of Allah (God) and a Muslim is the person who totally submits to the will of Allah (God). For that, all prophets sents by Allah (God) were MUSLIMS because they all totally submitted to the will of Allah (God). As there is only ONE GOD, there is only One Religion. Islam is the preserved pure religion of all prophets sent by ALLAH (GOD). Islam means the complete submission and obedience to Allah (God). Therefore, all prophets were indeed MUSLIMS because they were true submitters to the will of ALLAH, the Creator. "Truly, the religion with Allah (God) is Islam. Those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) did not differ except, out of mutual jealousy, after knowledge had come to them. And whoever disbelieves in the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, then surely, Allah is Swift in calling to account." [The Noble Quran 3:19] "And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers." [The Noble Quran 3:85] (1) Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) was MUSLIM "Ibrahim (Abraham) was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a true Muslim Hanifa (Islamic Monotheism - to worship none but Allah Alone) and he was not of Al-Mushrikun (the disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah, idolaters, polytheists, pagans, etc.)" [The Noble Quran 3:67] "And this (submission to Allah, Islam) was enjoined by Ibrahim (Abraham) upon his sons and by Ya'qub (Jacob)(saying), "O my sons! Allah has chosen for you the (true) religion, then die not except in the Faith of Islâm (as Muslims - Islamic Monotheism)." [The Noble Quran 2:132] (2) Prophet Joseph (peace be upon him) was MUSLIM Joseph said: "My Lord! You have indeed bestowed on me of the sovereignty, and taught me something of the interpretation of dreams - the (Only) Creator of the heavens and the earth! You are my Wali (Protector, Helper, Supporter, Guardian, God, Lord) in this world and in the Hereafter. Cause me to die as a Muslim (the one submitting to Your Will), and join me with the righteous." [The Noble Quran 12:101] (3) Prophet Jacob and his sons were MUSLIMS "Or were you witnesses when death approached Ya'qub (Jacob)? When he said unto his sons, "What will you worship after me?" They said, "We shall worship your Ilah (God - Allah), the Ilah (God) of your fathers, Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'il (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac), One Ilah (God), and to Him we submit (in Islam, Muslims)." [The Noble Quran 2:133] (4) Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) and his disciples were MUSLIMS "Then when 'Isa (Jesus) came to know of their disbelief, he said: "Who will be my helpers in Allah's Cause?" Al-Hawariun (the disciples) said: "We are the helpers of Allah; we believe in Allah, and bear witness that we are Muslims (i.e. we submit to Allah)." [The Noble Quran 3:52] "And when I (Allah) revealed to Al-Hawarieen (the disciples)(of 'Isa (Jesus)) to believe in Me and My Messenger, they said: "We believe. And bear witness that we are Muslims." [The Noble Quran 5:111]. ===================== Jesus using the word "Muslim" in Luke 6:40 in Aramaic; the language Jesus spoke while he preached the words of GOD Almighty: Let us look at Luke 6:40 from N.I.V. Bible "A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." Let us look at what Jesus said in Luke 6:40 in the language of Aramaic translated into Hebrew as shown below: "Ein talmeed na'leh 'al rabbo; shekken kal adam she'MUSHLAM yihyeh k'rabbo." Taken from the Aramaic bible society. Note: Aramaic and Hebrew are read from right to left, which is apposite to English. Translation in English: "No student can be above his teacher, but everyone that is a MUSLIM, can be as his teacher."
  • Hinduism is over 4.000 years old.
  • Depends on how you clasify religion and at what point you believe that it stopped being a tribal custom and started being a religion. But most people will name Hinduism. And it's hard to argue with them.
  • Animism and shamanism are the world's oldest religions. Hinduism isn't remotely as old.
  • Do people actually read the questions before answering? The question isn't "What is the world's oldest continuing verified religion?". The question is "What is the world's oldest verified religion?" Common sense dictates that the oldest religion dates back to very early humans. If religion is defined as the performance of rituals connected to deity (which makes it distinct from beliefs in the absence of ritual)then the oldest evidence probably dates back to the earliest prehistoric rock art and figurines, which are far older than Hinduism and represent animism and shamanism.
  • The oldest VERIFIED relegion (i dont know its name) was discovered in Botswana and is 70,000 years old. http://www.afrol.com/articles/23093

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