How long does a religion last?

[Curiousgirl81]

Religions all over seem to all have something in common... They begin, reach their peak and then disappear. Of course it takes thousands of years for this to occur. So, I'm wondering can you all tell me how old your religion are? I wanna see.

 

[Druidus]

Mine is probably about 4000 years old. Certainly, I'd say no more than 6000. However, there is no defining point of origin. It kind of "evolved" from Shamanism.

 

[Green Gaia]

Religions all over seem to all have something in common... They begin, reach their peak and then disappear. Of course it takes thousands of years for this to occur. So, I'm wondering can you all tell me how old your religion are? I wanna see.

All religions do this? I'm not so sure about that, but anyway.... my religion Unitarian Universalism is just in it's infancy compared to old religions like Hinduism (the oldest religion still practiced today), which is between 5-7000 years old. UUism is about 50 years old, forming after the Unitarians and the Universalists decided to join forces in 1961. For our complete history, check out this link.

 

[Master Vigil]

I am a shaman at the core. Shamanism is probably the oldest form of spirituality and is probably the root of all religions known to man today. My philosophy is taoist though. Which was said to be started by Lao Tzu, there is no set date for his birth or death, and therefore no set date for the beginning of taoism. But it is estimated to be earlier than confucious, and he was born in 551 BCE. So over 2000 years. And before christ.

 

[Engyo]

Siddhartha Gautama aka the Buddha was born in India some 2200 years ago, give or take a few. The founder of my particular school of Buddhism, Nichiren, lived in Japan from 1222 to 1282 CE.

 

[painted wolf]

well the (modern) cherokee go back about 800 years or so, to the 'moundbuilders' who go back to 8000bc, who go back to the older 'clovis people' who go back 15,000 bc who go back to well you get the idea. Our faith hasn't changed a whole lot, names, specific ceremonies that sort of thing changes but the basic core of our faith goes back to people who painted caves in the stone age. We have had our ups and downs, from building large cities to the trail of tears but I'm not shure were under any threat of extinction.

Just how old is my faith? Old enough that no one remembers how old it is or could 'prove' it if they did.

Does age lend a relgion credibility? I don't think so, many 'young' religions have a lot of good and perfectly valid ideas that 'old' ones don't. Longevity doesn't make you right. Who knows maybe the 'true' relgion was already here and died out thousands of years ago because it just never got popular?

wa:do

 

[cardero]

I only fo' years old.

 

[Ardhanariswar]

awww. patrick. hehe.


can you name any religions that peaked and dissapeared? im not aware of any religions, but certainly there were civilizations that did so. oh, you mean the religions they practiced? well of course. does anyone in egypt worship the gods there like isis and etc.?

 

[Ardhanariswar]

oh, and religions and terms to name God come and go, but the God still remains.

 

[Sunstone]

Some anthropologists have estimated that there have been at least 100,000 religions come and gone since the time when Chauvet cave in France was painted 32,000 years ago.

 

[cardero]

painted wolf writes: Does age lend a relgion credibility? I don't think so, many 'young' religions have a lot of good and perfectly valid ideas that 'old' ones don't. Longevity doesn't make you right. Who knows maybe the 'true' relgion was already here and died out thousands of years ago because it just never got popular?

I agree. A lot of representatives from different organized religions that I debate use this technique of quoting how long their religion has been around. Quantity does not equal quality. If they really wanted to make an impression with me they should qualify their beliefs with PROVEN TRUTH.

 

[Curiousgirl81]

Thanks for the info