Which religion invented the idea of "One god" first?

[paarsurrey]

Just so you know and understand...

...I can well respect the "basic ethical, moral and spiritual teachings of religion", regardless of textural or oral history sources... as long as scientific fact is not lent some literal false equivalency to myth, superstition, cultural traditions, magical/wishful thinking, or pseudoscience rationalizations/mysticism.

ANY religion that teaches, preaches, and demands of pious adherents to be decent, caring, empathetic, generous, and *thinking* human beings is good by me

ANY religion that dictates that heretics and infidels must be punished for their unbelief by the Command of their favored deity...is, *ahem*, as unevolved and ignorant as any caveman clad in animal skins wielding a stone spear eager to eliminate the the clan that competes for food a few caves over...

Here is my response to your point in the post coloured by in magenta.

Ahmadiyya Islam is such religion.

 

[paarsurrey]

Just so you know and understand...

...I can well respect the "basic ethical, moral and spiritual teachings of religion", regardless of textural or oral history sources... as long as scientific fact is not lent some literal false equivalency to myth, superstition, cultural traditions, magical/wishful thinking, or pseudoscience rationalizations/mysticism.

ANY religion that teaches, preaches, and demands of pious adherents to be decent, caring, empathetic, generous, and *thinking* human beings is good by me

ANY religion that dictates that heretics and infidels must be punished for their unbelief by the Command of their favored deity...is, *ahem*, as unevolved and ignorant as any caveman clad in animal skins wielding a stone spear eager to eliminate the the clan that competes for food a few caves over...

Here is my response to your point in the post coloured by in magenta.
In Ahmadiyya Islam; there is no such punishment in this world.

 

[paarsurrey]

Well, as the atheist in question that put forward the OP, I initially couched the question in saying that I did not know if there was any "correct" answer available... but was curious if any believer or historian could provide any compelling or religious/textual based evidences to rightfully claim originality in monotheistic adherence and practices.

You may misunderstand or mistakenly attribute my interests as motivation to criticize a particular or unique religion... and you would be wrong.

Please note again, I am an atheist.

I'm not anti-islam, anti-christian, anti-voodoo, anti-hindi, anti-Zoroastrian, anti-buddist, anti-pagan, anti-anything religious. I perceive all religions as utter bunk, and I retain no favorites or enemies in that estimation.

But within the course of recorded human history, and perhaps even before those accountings, the concept of monotheism is often claimed by many religions, both current and those largely unpracticed nowadays.

As far as I know, there is no *correct* answer available, but I was curious enough to inquire to perhaps reduce my ignorance as to whom might claim with legitimate argument and evidence, their own presented "first cause" argument of a singular divine entity.

I must say at very least, the instances presented so far have been intriguing... and interesting.

Every revealed religion being from the one source of the one true attributive creator God originally believed in ONE-God; so in originality every revealed religion is monotheistic; it is the later corruption which makes it poly-theistic, in my opinion.

All revealed religion have the same basic concepts, as I understand.

 

[Riverwolf]

anti-hindi

How could one be against a language, anyway?

 

[s2a]

Every revealed religion being from the one source of the one true attributive creator God originally believed in ONE-God; so in originality every revealed religion is monotheistic; it is the later corruption which makes it poly-theistic, in my opinion.

All revealed religion have the same basic concepts, as I understand.

You might want to explore the foundations and claims of Mormonism... being likely the newest popular religion borne of claims of dictated revelation

Some concepts contained therein differ a good bit from the Abrahamic origins from which it's marginally sourced...

I'm still inclined to think (from dated cave paintings, archeological finds, relics/structures, et al) that naturalistic/polytheistic/pagan belief systems/ "theologies" were practiced for many thousands of years before any singular "ONE-god" concept was embraced culturally or even tribally...for there are no especially compelling evidences discovered as yet to suggest that may be so, or even to argue that monotheistic tendencies/assumptions/concepts were even conceived...much less ritually practiced.. 10,000-20,000 years ago. Most Abrahamic sourced sects acknowledge this paucity of available testimony, excepting the ones that insist that the entire cosmos is but a few thousand years old...

Folks of those beliefs tend to favor your perspective in that it's mankind's own sinful and mindful rebellion and heresies against "god" that bore polytheistic beliefs after THE singular God "revealed" himself to "true believers".

It's a convenient and simple enough "explanation", especially if you believe that you (ie, your religion) retains the only valid revelation of the ONE...

...but from what we have found, may independently examine, and thoughtfully speculate upon well enough...with at least somewhat informed opinion... your assertion serves as echo to others in a large chorus of song...and that's ok.

At very least I do appreciate your contributions here, in best effort to establish claim of originality on behalf of your own beliefs.

 

[s2a]

how could one be against a language, anyway?

 

[paarsurrey]

Which religion invented the idea of "One god" first?

No religion invented this idea; this is commonly revealed to all religions in the origin as all revealed religions are from the same one source of one true attributive creator God, in my opinion; late people corrupted the truthful concept.

 

[Klerkie]

It's not my religion, but Sikhism is believed to be the oldest religion with belief in a single god; they believe The Universe is a god in and of itself.

 

[Madhuri]

It's not my religion, but Sikhism is believed to be the oldest religion with belief in a single god; they believe The Universe is a god in and of itself.

Who believes that? Even Islam existed before Sikhism.

 

[Sumit]

Rigveda is the oldest religious text that speaks about one god.

He is One God
The Creator of the cosmos
Who pervades and protects
And enlightens aft beings
He is One Supreme Entity
Whom sages call by various names -- Rig Veda 1/164/46

There is no second God, nor a third, nor is even a fourth spoken of
There is no fifth God or a sixth nor is even a seventh mentioned.
There is no eighth God, nor a ninth. Nothing is spoken about a tenth even.
This unique power is in itself. That Lord is only one, the only omnipresent. It is one and the only one. --Atharvaveda 13.4

Oh God! There is nobody like you either in this world or the world beyond. No body equal to you is born as yet nor will be born ever in future also.-- Yajurveda 27.36

The Lord of the entire universe is one and one only.-Rig-Veda 6.36.4

 

[Me Myself]

Do we have evidence about since when Judaism switched from monolatry to monotheism?

I am curious on the date or estimated possible approximation, if anyone could provide

 

[Mr Spinkles]

I know. Ahura Mazda was also the Vedic God Varuna.

The thing is, they also believed in an evil force called Angra Mainyu, whose power would seem to indicate God-status, despite being evil.

Oh but is that a disqualifying feature? By that definition Christianity and Islam aren't monotheistic ... is that how strictly we are defining things?

 

[Me Myself]

If hinduism doesnt count because more than one God is one, then the christian trinity surely doesn´t count either, right?

 

[Madhuri]

If hinduism doesnt count because more than one God is one, then the christian trinity surely doesn´t count either, right?

Exactly.

 

[Riverwolf]

Oh but is that a disqualifying feature? By that definition Christianity and Islam aren't monotheistic ... is that how strictly we are defining things?

In Christianity and Islam, Satan is not God's evil counterpart, and not a Deity.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

In Christianity and Islam, Satan is not God's evil counterpart, and not a Deity.

Isn't that just semantics? What is the difference between Satan as conceived in those religions and the "evil force ... whose power would seem to indicate God-status" as conceived in Zoroastrianism?

 

[Riverwolf]

Isn't that just semantics? What is the difference between Satan as conceived in those religions and the "evil force ... whose power would seem to indicate God-status" as conceived in Zoroastrianism?

Angra Manyu is an equal and opposite force to Ahura Mazda. Satan is not. In the Bible, Satan is always subject to whatever God says; simply invoking God's name is enough to command Satan.

 

[UTK007]

Zoroastrianism, which was probably founded some time before the 6th century, is credited by most scholars as being the first monotheistic religion. Zoroastrians believed in one universal god, Ahura Mazda.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Zoroastrianism, which was probably founded some time before the 6th century, is credited by most scholars as being the first monotheistic religion.

Source?

 

[Perseveranze]

Islam obviously - as Muslims believe it's not a new religion.

7th century description of the word "Islam" you could say brought religion back to strict Monotheism though.