the history of religion on earth series is an extensive treatment that delves into the ancient origins of
religion the constructs of primitive ritual the institutionalized timelines and the corruptions within
those timelines that have led up to our current religious paradigm we aim to analyze
the current academic consensus but more importantly we want to introduce additional hypotheses that are
disallowed by the mainstream when we look at the deep history of religion we need to understand what
religion is in his book the bonobo and the atheist the promitologist franz de waal suggests
this definition religion is the shared reverence for the supernatural
sacred or spiritual as well as the symbols rituals and worship that are associated
with it the importance of shared experience can’t be overstated since
the evolution of human religion is inseparable from the ever increasing sociality of
the hominin line as sociologist robert bella points out religion
is a way of being we might also view it as a way of feeling as a way of filling together while much
of the scientific study of religion is on theology-based doctrinal religions the evolutionary psychologist robin
dunbar thinks this is a narrow way of studying the phenomenon because it completely ignores the fact
for most of human history religions have had very different shamanic-like forms that lack gods and moral codes
while the theology-based forms are only a few thousand years old and characteristic of post-agricultural
societies dunbar argues that the shamanic forms date back
years these he claims are characteristic of hunter-gatherers if we want to
understand how and why religion evolved we need to start out by examining religions
with the cultural accretions stripped away we need to focus less on questions about
big gods and creeds and more on questions about the capacities that emerged in our ancient ancestors
that allowed them to achieve a religious way of being together all societies seem to have religions of
some sort and there are no exceptions to this there are two major perspectives on why
this might be one is called functionalism or adaptationism the idea that religion brings positive
evolutionary benefits which are most often framed in terms of its contribution
to group living after all if all societies have religion
it must have a social purpose others take the view that religion is a byproduct of evolutionary processes
religion can be seen as akin to vestigial organs perhaps it was adaptive in the
environments it originally evolved in but in this environment it’s maladaptive
or perhaps religious beliefs are the result of psychological mechanisms that
evolved to solve ecological problems unrelated to religion either way evolution didn’t aim at
religion religion just emerged as evolution aimed at other things
while folks on both sides of this debate have their reasons it seems unhelpful to frame the evolution of
religion in these either or terms something that was merely a byproduct of a blind evolutionary
process could well be taken up by human beings to perform a specific function or solve a specific
problem this can be true for many behaviors including music but religion presents a particular
puzzle since it often involves extremely costly behaviors such as altruism
and at times even self-sacrifice for this reason some theorists such as dunbar argue that
we should also look beyond the individual to the survival of the group this
approach is known as multi-level selection which recognizes that fitness benefits can
sometimes accrue to individuals through group level effects rather than always being the direct
product of the individual’s own actions an example is cooperative hunting which
enables groups to catch bigger prey than any member could catch as individuals bigger prey means more for
me even if i must share the meat such group level processes require the individual
to be sensitive to the needs of other members of the group if we are to understand religion then we
first need to look back into our deep history to understand how human ancestors evolved to live in groups in
the first place we are after all descended from a long line of ancestral hominoids
with weak social ties and no permanent group structures so how did darwinian selection work
on the neuroanatomy of hominins to make them more social so that they could generate cohesive
social bonds to form primary groups that’s not a natural thing for apes
the current mainstream paradigm dictates that our ape line evolved from our last common ancestor around million years
ago orangutans broke away about to million years ago while the gorilla line
branched away about eight to nine million years ago the hominin line then branched into two
about five to seven million years ago with one line leading to the chimpanzees in bonibos
and the other leading to us we modern humans share of our genes with living
chimpanzees which means we’re the two most closely related apes in the whole line
the similarities between humans and chimps are well known but one important difference has to do
with group size chimpanzees on average can maintain a group size of about .
this appears to be the largest group size that can be maintained through grooming alone in contrast the
average human group is about . the reason for this is that humans have
the capacity to reach three times as many social contacts as chimps for a given amount of social effort
human religion seems to emerge out of this increased capacity for sociality
the question then becomes why as our ape ancestors moved from receding
forest habitats to more open environments like the savannahs of eastern and southern africa
environmental pressures acted on them to make them more social for increased protection from predators
and better access to food it also made it easier to find a mate without the ability to maintain new
structures like small groups of five or six so-called nuclear families these apes wouldn’t have been able to
survive so how did nature achieve this socialization process
the key isn’t with what we typically think of as intelligence but rather with the emotions which was
accompanied by some important changes to our brain structure although the
neocortex figures prominently in many theories of the evolution of religion
the more important alterations concern the subcortical parts of the brain which gave hominins the capacity to
experience a broader range of emotions these enhanced emotions promoted bonding
a crucial achievement for the development of religion the process of subcortical enhancement
dates to about . million years ago when the first author of emerged initially selection increased
the size of their brain about cubic centimeters beyond that of chimpanzees to about
cc for the sake of comparison this is smaller than later hominins homo habilis had a
cranial capacity of cc while homo erectus was slightly larger
than to cc modern humans in contrast boast a brain
size much bigger than any of these with a cranial capacity of up to
cc but the comparably smaller brain size doesn’t mean that nothing was happening
to the hominin brain brain size is measured by endocast but these do not reflect the subcortical
enhancement that was occurring between the emergence of australopiths and homo erectus
and it is in the story of how these subcortical mechanisms evolve that ultimately the origins of
religion are to be discovered although the neocortex of humans
is three times the size of apes the subcortex is only twice as big which leads turner
to believe that the enhancement of hominin emotion was well underway before the neocortex began to
grow to its current human size here’s how nature pulled it off
you’ve probably heard of the so-called four primary emotions aggression fear sadness and
happiness notice anything about that list three of the emotions are negative
but the promotion of solidarity requires positive emotions so natural selection had to find a way
to mute the negative emotions and enhance the positive ones the emotional capacities of great apes
particularly chimpanzees were already more elaborate than many other mammals so
selection had something to work with enter the concept of first and second
order elaborations which are emotions that are the result of combinations of two or more primary
emotions so for example the combination of happiness and anger generates vengeance while
Happiness & Anger = Vengence
jealousy is the result of combining anger and fear all which figures majorly in religion
Awe = Fear & Happiness
is the combination of fear and happiness second order elaborations are even more
complex and occurred in the evolution from homo erectus to homo sapiens
guilt and shame for example two crucial emotions for the development of religion are the
combination of sadness fear and anger it’s difficult to imagine religion
without the capacity to experience these emotional elaborations for the same reason
it’s difficult to imagine close social groups without them such an emotional palette binds us to
one another at a visceral level human solidarities are only possible by emotional arousal
revolving around possible emotions love happiness satisfaction caring
loyalty and the migration of the power of negative emotions or at least some
negative emotions and once these new valences of positive emotions are neurologically possible
they can become entwined with rituals and other emotion arousing behaviors
to enhance solidarities and eventually produce notions of power gods and supernatural
forces as selection worked on existing brain structures enhancing emotional and interpersonal
capacities certain behavioral propensities of apes began to evolve
some of the propensities already present in apes include the ability to read eyes and faces and
imitate facial gestures various capacities for empathy the ability to become emotionally
aroused in social settings the capacity to perform rituals a sense
of reciprocity and justice and the ability to see the self as an object
in an environment an increase in the emotional palate available to apes would result in an
increase in all of these behavioral capacities the roots of ritual are in what vela
calls serious play activities done for their own sake which may not serve an immediate
survival capacity but which have a very large potentiality of developing more capacities
this view fits with various theories in developmental science showing that playful activities are
often crucial for developing important abilities like theory of mind
and counter factual thinking play in this evolutionary sense has many
unique characteristics it must be performed in a relaxed field when the animal is fed and healthy and
stress-free play also occurs in bouts it has a clear beginning
and ending in dogs for example play is initiated with a bow
play involves a sense of justice big animals need to self-handicap in order to not
hurt smaller animals now compare serious play to rituals
rituals begin and end they require both shared intention and shared attention
there are norms involved they take place in a time within time
beyond the time of the everyday think for example of a football game in which
balls can be caught out of bounds and time can be paused we regularly participate in modes of
reality in which we willingly bracket out the real world play allows us to do this
most important of all play is a practice in itself and not something with an external end
ritual is the primordial form of serious play in human evolutionary history which
means that ritual is an enhancement of the capacities that make play first possible in the
mammalian line there is a continuity between the two
the second trait we must consider is empathy empathy is not primarily in the head
it’s in the body at least that’s how it started it began with the synchronization of bodies
running when others run laughing when others laugh crying when others cry or yawning when
others yawn empathy is absolutely central to what we call morality
without empathy you can’t get human morality it makes us interested in others it
makes us have an emotional stake in them if religion according to our definition
is a way of being together then morality which instructs us as to the best ways to be together is an
inextricable part of that we see animals want to share food even
though it costs them we do experiments on them and the general conclusion is that many animals
first tendency is to be altruistic and cooperative altruistic tendencies come very
naturally to many mammals but isn’t this just self-preservation aren’t the animals
just acting in their own best interest if they behave in a way that appears
altruistic aren’t they just preparing for a time when they will need help well to call that selfish because
in the end these pro-social tendencies have benefits is a logical fallacy
yes of course there are pleasurable sensations associated with the action of giving to
others but evolution has produced pleasurable sensations for behaviors we need to perform like
sex and eating and female nursing the same is true for altruism
that does not fundamentally alter what the behavior is such a hard and fast line between
altruism and selfishness then is naive at best and deceptive at worst and we can see the
same with discussions of social norms philosophers such as david hume have
made the distinction between what a behavior is and what it ought to be which is a
staple of ethical deliberation an animal may perform the behavior x
but does it do so because it feels it should do so thanks to an appreciation of a norm
there is evidence that animals actively try to preserve harmony within their social network by
reconciling after conflict protesting against unequal divisions and breaking up
fights among others they behave normatively in the sense of correcting or trying to
correct deviations from an ideal state they also show emotional self-control
and anticipatory conflict resolution in order to prevent such deviations
this makes moving from primate behavior to human moral norms less of a leap than commonly thought
there’s obviously a gap between primate social repair and the institutionalization of moral
codes that lie at the heart of modern human societies still all of these human moral systems make
use of primate tendencies how far back do these tendencies go
probably like those capacities that allow for play and ultimately ritual to the advent of
parental care during million years of mammalian evolution
females sensitive to their offspring out reproduce those who were cold and
distant of course nurturing is arguably seen in species of fish
crocodiles and snakes but the nurturing capabilities of mammals is really a giant leap forward in the
evolutionary story our religious services of today may seem
worlds away from the mammalian play and empathy that emerged in our deep past
but evolution teaches us that complex advanced phenomena develop from simple
beginnings we don’t come from nowhere we are embedded in a deep biological and cosmological history
as the apeline evolved from our last common ancestor in more open environments it was
necessary to pressure apes who prefer to go it alone to form more lasting social structures
natural selection was able to accomplish this astonishing feat by enhancing the emotional palettes
available that had long been available to our ancestors with a broader set of emotions the
hominin brain was then able to enhance some of its capabilities some of which
quite naturally lent themselves to a religious way of being as these capacities got more acutely
enhanced with the growth of the homo brain and the development of the neocortex
behaviors such as play and ritual entered a new phase in hominin development becoming the raw
materials out of which cultural evolution would begin to institutionalize religion
and though this history doesn’t determine us this biocosmological history influences
everything we do and are even the most seemingly autonomous human decision is
made from within history that’s the big picture here that’s what we’ve been keeping in mind
as we made our way back in time to the evolutionary seeds that would eventually and quite slowly blossom into human
religion so now that we have reviewed the earliest form of religion within the
biocosmological context of our hominin ancestors we are now ready to focus on the origins
of religions in the homo sapien cultures of our ancient past in parts and .
PART
perhaps one of the most heated ongoing debates concerning the topic of religion is which one is the oldest one of the
prevailing theological views about religion is the archaeological evidence does not support the presence of
religious practices by modern humans or neanderthals prior or during the middle paleolithic period
ranging from three hundred thousand to fifty thousand bce however as we discussed in part one
the shamanic forms of religion date back at least five hundred thousand years moreover
contrary to theological academia some of the earliest significant evidence of religious practices does
indeed date from the middle paleolithic period intentional burial particularly with
grave goods may be one of the earliest detectable forms of religious practice since it may signify a concern
for the dead that transcends daily life the earliest undisputed human burial
dates back one years human skeletal remains stained with red okra were discovered in
skull cave in israel a variety of grave goods were present at the site
including the mandible of a wild boar in the arms of one of the skeletons
as we move into the upper paleolithic period circa bce we find the remains of one of
the earliest known anatomically modern humans to be cremated around bce the aurignacian
figurine the oldest known zoomorphic sculpture in the world and one of the oldest known sculptures
in general was made the sculpture has also been interpreted as anthropomorphic
giving human characteristics to an animal although it may have represented a deity
between and the oldest discovered venus figurines
appeared in graves some were deliberately broken or repeatedly stabbed
possibly representing the murders of the men with whom they were buried or owing to some other unknown social
dynamic also clear examples of burials are present in iberia
wales and eastern europe these two incorporate the heavy use of red okra
and various objects were included in the graves when we reached the neolithic period in the
younger dryas roughly years ago we find that noticeable burial activity has resumed
all these graves are delineated by the cave walls in large limestone blocks
the burials share several characteristics such as the use of red okra and shell and mammoth ivory jewelry that
go back thousands of years they were now beginning to take on the form of modern cemeteries
old burials were commonly re-dug and moved to make way for new ones with the older bones often being
gathered and cashed together large stones may have acted as grave markers
pairs of antlers were sometimes mounted on poles within the cave this is compared to the modern practice
of leaving flowers at a grave it is during the pre-pottery
neolithic period that we come across quebecole tempe the oldest religious site yet discovered
anywhere it includes circles of erective massive t-shaped stone pillars
the world’s oldest known megaliths decorated with abstract enigmatic pictograms and
carved animal reliefs the site near the home place of original wild wheat
was built before the so-called neolithic revolution where we find the beginning of
agriculture and animal husbandry around bce but
the construction of gobekli tempe implies organization of an advanced order not hitherto
associated with paleolithic societies the site abandoned around the time the
first agriculture society started is still being excavated and analyzed
and thus might shed light on the significance it had for the region’s older foraging
communities as well as for the general history of religions
in essence when it comes to the question of the oldest religion there really is no solid answer because
THE ANCIENT ERA B.C.E. TO C.E.
the written record only extends back a bit over years so as we start out in the ancient era we
will base our chronology on the written record as discovered thus far
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA c. B.C.E.
[Music] it comes as no surprise that the first recognized written record of a religion
originates where the first written language was discovered mesopotamia when religion developed in
mesopotamia is unknown but the first written records of religious practice
date to circa bce from sumer mesopotamian religion refers
to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient mesopotamia
particularly sumer arcade assyria and babylonia between circa bce and
ce after which they largely gave way to syriac christianity the religious
development of mesopotamia and mesopotamian culture in general was not particularly
influenced by the movements of the various peoples into and throughout the area
particularly in the south rather mesopotamian religion was a
consistent and coherent tradition which adapted to the internal needs of its adherents
over millennia of development the earliest undercurrents of mesopotamian religious
thought involved the worship of forces of nature as providers of sustenance
in the third millennium bce objects of worship were personified and became an expansive cast of
divinities with particular functions the last stages of mesopotamian
polytheism which developed in the second and first millenniums introduced greater emphasis on personal
religion and structured the gods into a monarchical hierarchy with the national god being the head of
the pantheon mesopotamian religion finally declined with the spread of iranian religions
and with the christianization of mesopotamia [Music]
the first written records of egyptian religious practice come from around bce in the
pre-diagnostic period in egypt the beginnings of egyptian religion extend into prehistory
though evidence comes only from the sparse and ambiguous archaeological record
careful burials during the pre-dynastic period imply that the people of this time
believed in some form of an afterlife at the same time animals were ritually
buried a practice which may reflect the development of zoomorphic deities like those found in the later religion
the early dynastic period began with the unification of egypt around bce
this event transformed egyptian religion as some deities rose to national
importance and the cult of the divine pharaoh became the center focus of religious activity during the old
kingdom the priesthoods of the major deities attempted to organize the complicated national pantheon
into groups linked by their mythology and worshiped in a single cult center
in contrast with the great size of the pyramid complexes temples to gods remain
comparatively small suggesting that official religion in this period emphasized the cult of the divine king
more than the direct worship of deities the funeral rituals and architecture of this time
greatly influence the more elaborate temples and rituals used in worshiping the gods in later
periods in the nd century bce the old kingdom
collapsed into the disorder of the first intermediate period eventually rulers from thieves reunified
the egyptian nation in the middle kingdom in this new egyptian state personal
piety grew more important and was expressed more freely in writing a trend that
continued in the new kingdom the middle kingdom crumbled in the second intermediate
period but the country was again reunited by the thebian rulers who became the first pharaohs of the new
kingdom under the new regime amun became the supreme state god
he was syncretized with ra the long-established patron of kingship
and his temple at karnak and thieves became egypt’s most important religious center the new
kingdom religious order was disrupted when akhenaten asceted and replaced a moon with the
aten as the state god eventually he eliminated the official worship of most
other gods and moved egypt’s capital to a new city at armana
this part of egyptian history the amarna period is named after this akhenaten’s
successors restored the traditional religious system and eventually they dismantled all otenis monuments
before the armarna period popular religion had trended toward more personal relationships between
worshipers and their gods akhenaten’s changes had reversed this trend but once the traditional
religion was restored there was a backlash the populists began to believe that the gods were much more
directly involved in daily life the pharaoh was correspondingly more human and less divine
the importance of oracles as a means of decision-making grew as did the wealth and influence of the
oracle’s interpreters the priesthood these trends undermined the traditional structure of society
and contributed to the breakdown of the new kingdom in the first millennium bce egypt was
significantly weaker than in earlier times and in several periods foreigners seized
the country and assumed the position of pharaoh the importance of the pharaoh continued
to decline and the emphasis on popular piety continued to increase
animal cults a characteristically egyptian form of worship became increasingly popular in this
period possibly as a response to the uncertainty and foreign influence of the time in the
fourth century bce egypt became a hellenistic kingdom under the ptolemaic dynasty which
assumed the pharonic role maintaining the traditional religion in building or rebuilding many temples
the kingdom’s greek ruling class identified the egyptian deities with their own
from this cross-cultural syncretism emerged serapis a god who combined osiris
and apis with characteristics of greek deities and who became very popular among the
greek population nevertheless for the most part the two belief systems remain
separate and the egyptian deities remained egyptian ptolemaic era beliefs changed little
after egypt became a province of the roman empire in bce with the ptolemaic
kings replaced by distant emperors as the empire weakened official temples
fell into decay and without their centralizing influence religious practice became fragmented and
localized meanwhile christianity spread across egypt and in the third and fourth centuries ce
edicts by christian emperors and iconoclasm by local christians eroded traditional beliefs while it
persisted among the populists for some time egyptian religion slowly faded away
[Music]
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION c. B.C.E.
the indus valley civilization was a bronze age civilization that existed between
and bce and its antecedents dating as far back as to bce
during the neolithic period the religion and belief system of the indus valley
people have received considerable attention especially from the view of identifying
precursors to deities and religious practices of indian religions that later developed in
the area however due to the sparsity of evidence which is open to varying interpretations
and the fact that the indus script remains undeciphered the conclusions are partly speculative
and largely based on a retrospective view from a much later hindu perspective
nevertheless some assumptions about the indus valley civilization religion are number one the indus people
probably worshipped a mother goddess in addition to male and female deities number two they may have worshiped a
father god who might be a progenitor of the race and probably was a prototype of siva as the lord of
the animals number three they were familiar with some form of yoga and meditation
number four they believed in a tree of life which is depicted in the seals as a
pipal or acacia tree defended by a guardian spirit against an evil force
symbolized as a tiger in the seals the guardian spirit is depicted variously as a bull a snake
a goat and a mythical creature or animal number five they worship fertility symbols such as
round stones and pierced stones number six they might have also believed
in magical rituals charms and amulets and so also in spirits and demons seven the great bath
of mohenjo daro was probably a prototype koval or sacred tank which are found
in the ancient temples of southern india where people might have taken purification baths
or participated collectively in ritual baths on important occasions and eight going by the number of animals
in the indus seals and the presence of babs suggests that they might have used water in
animals in sacrificial rituals as offerings or for expiation and ritual cleansing
in contrast to contemporary egyptian and mesopotamian civilizations
indus valley lacks any monumental palaces even though excavated cities indicate
the society possess the requisite engineering knowledge this may suggest
that religious ceremonies if any may have been largely confined to individual homes
small temples or the open air several sites have been proposed as possibly
devoted to religious purpose but at present only the great bath that mohenjo-daro
is widely thought to have been so used as a place for ritual purification the funerary
practices of the harappan civilization are marked by fractional burial in which
the body is reduced to skeletal remains by exposure to the elements before final interment and even cremation
MINOAN CIVILIZATION c. B.C.E.
long before ancient greek civilization developed the minoan civilization on the island of
crete was engaged in religious practices that would become the foundation for the greeks modern scholars
have reconstructed it almost totally on the basis of archaeological remains
rather than text the minoans seem to have prominently worshipped a great goddess which had previously led
to the belief that their society was matriarchal however it is now known that this was not the
case the minoan pantheon featured many deities among which a young spear-wielding male
god is also prominent some scholars see in the minoan goddess a female divine
solar figure although some depictions of women may be images of worshipers
and priestesses officiating at religious ceremonies goddesses seem to include a mother
goddess of fertility a goddess of animals and female protectors of
cities the household the harvest and the underworld they are often represented by serpents
birds poppies or an animal on the head [Music]
JUDAISM c. – B.C.E.
the origins of judaism according to the current historical view lie in the bronze age amidst
polytheistic ancient semitic religions specifically evolving out of ancient
canaanite polytheism then coexisting with babylonian religion
and secretizing elements of babylonian belief into the worship of yahweh as reflected
in the early prophetic books of the hebrew bible although judaism as a religion first
appears in greek records during the hellenistic period and the earliest mention of israel is
inscribed in the mernepta stila dated – bce
religious literature tells the story of israelites going back at least as far as bce
during the iron age the israelite religion became distinct from the canaanite polytheism
out of which it evolved this process began with the development of yahwehism
the monolatristic worship of yahweh that gave acknowledgement to the existence
but suppressed the worship of other canaanite gods later this monolithic beliefs cemented
into a strict monotheistic belief and worship of yahweh alone with the rejection of the existence of all
other gods whether canaanite or foreign during the babylonian captivity of the
sixth and fifth centuries bce certain circles within the exiled judaites
in babylon refined pre-existing ideas about their yahweh centric monolithrism election divine law and
covenant into a strict monotheistic theology which came to dominate the former kingdom of judah
in the following centuries from the th century bce until ce israel-like religion
developed into the various theological schools of second temple judaism besides hellenistic judaism in the
disporia second temple eschatology was significantly influenced by
zoroastrianism the text of the hebrew bible was redacted into its extant form
in this period and possibly also canonized as well
[Music]
the religion of the olmec people significantly influenced the social development and
mythological world view of mesoamerica scholars have seen echoes of olmec religion in the subsequent
religions and mythologies of nearly all later pre-columbian era banded eye god feather serpent fish or
snake monster cultures the first mesoamerican civilization the almex
developed on the present-day mexican southern gulf coast in the centuries before bce
the culture lasted until roughly bce at which time their center at levinta
lay abandoned the olmec culture is often considered a mother culture to later mesoamerican cultures there is
no surviving direct account of the olmecs religious beliefs unlike the mayan popovu or the aztecs
with their many codices and conquistador accounts archaeologists therefore have to rely on
other techniques to reconstruct olmec beliefs they have employed typological analysis of olmec
iconography and art comparison to later better documented pre-columbian cultures
and comparisons to modern day cultures of the indigenous peoples of the americas
the latter two techniques assume that there is a continuity extending from almec times
through later mesoamerican cultures to the present day this assumption is called the continuity
hypothesis using these techniques researchers have discerned several separate deities
or supernaturals embodying the characteristics of various animals
PART
[Music] mainstream greek religion is a
polytheistic religion that appears to have developed out of proto-indo-european religion and
although very little is known about the earliest periods there are suggestive hints that some
local elements go back further than years although its origins may be traced to
the remotest eras greek religion in its developed form lasted more than a thousand years
from the time of homer probably th or th century bce to the reign of emperor
julian around th century ce during that period
its influence spread as far west as spain east to the indus valley and throughout
the mediterranean world its effect was most marked on the romans who identified their deities with those
of the greeks under christianity greek heroes and even deities survived as saints
while the rival madonnas of southern european communities reflected the independence of local cults
the rediscovery of greek literature during the renaissance and above all the novel perfection of
classical sculpture produced a revolution in taste that had far-reaching effects on
christian religious art the most striking characteristic of greek religion was the belief in a
multiplicity of anthropomorphic deities under one supreme god priests simply looked after cults they
did not constitute a clergy and there were no sacred books
when the roman republic conquered greece in bce it took much of greek religion along
with many other aspects of greek culture such as literary and architectural styles
and incorporated it into its own the greek gods were equated with the ancient roman deities
zeus with jupiter hera with juno poseidon with neptune aphrodite with venus ares with mars
artemis with diana athena with minerva hermes with mercury has feastus with
vulcan hestia with vesta demeter with ceres hades with pluto
and pan with faunus some of the gods such as apollo and bacchus had earlier
been adopted by the romans there were also many deities that existed in the roman religion before its
interaction with greece that were not associated with a greek deity including janus and quirinius
the initial decline of greco-roman polytheism was due in part to its syncretic nature
assimilating beliefs and practices from a variety of foreign religious traditions as the roman empire expanded
greco-roman philosophical schools incorporated elements of judaism and early christianity
and mystery religions like mithraism also became increasingly popular constantine the first became the first
roman emperor to convert to christianity and the edict of milan in ce
enacted official tolerance for christianity within the empire still in greece and elsewhere there is
evidence that pagan and christian communities remained essentially segregated from each other
with little cultural influence flowing between the two urban pagans continued to utilize the
civic centers and temple complexes while christians set up their own new places of worship in suburban areas of
cities contrary to some older scholarship newly converted christians did not simply
continue worshiping in converted temples rather new christian communities were
formed as older pagan communities declined and were eventually suppressed and disbanded
ZOROASTRIANISM c. – B.C.E.
zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions
it is a multi-tendency faith centered on a dualistic cosmology of good and evil
and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of
hinotheism monotheism and polytheism ascribe to the teachings of the iranian
spiritual leader zoro astor it exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom a hero
mazda as its supreme being major features of zoroastrianism such as
messianism judgment after death heaven and hell and free will may have influenced other
religious and philosophical systems including the second temple judaism gnosticism
greek philosophy christianity islam and buddhism with possible roots dating
back to the second millennium bce zoroastrianism enters recorded history
in the th century bce zoroastrianism was adopted by the persian empire
the parthian empire and found its fullest expression under the sassanian
empire the sassanians made zoroastrianism the state religion while at the same time developing a different
branch of the faith usually referred to as a heresy known as zorvanism after the muslim arab invasion
in ce zoroastrians were persecuted the faith suppressed and the religious
sites destroyed or turned into mosque zoroastrianism survived however though
adherents were greatly reduced in number and continues to be observed in the present day
JAINISM C. B.C.E.
jainism dates to the th century bce in india the religion derives its name
from the genus meaning conquerors a title given to great teachers through whom their faith
was revealed mahavira the last of the teachers is considered the founder of jainism
an early schism occurred that lasts to the present day over certain aspects of monastic
discipline the scavedum berasek believed that monks and nuns should wear
white robes whereas the digamberas believe that monks should wear no clothes the
latter group is also differentiated by its belief that a female cannot attain liberation
the schism was further cemented when the scuvetum bearers met in a council to fix the jain canon of
scriptures in ce the digamberas were excluded from the
council and they later rejected the decisions of the council in the period of the th through th
centuries ce the jain community migrated westward eventually settling in western and
central india jainism was more influential in its new area than it was in the area of its
birth the digamberas settled in the south where they enjoyed much political favor
HINDUISM c. B.C.E.
many scholars argue that hinduism known to adherence as sanatan dharma or the eternal order
is the oldest religion on earth founded as early as bce
hinduism is a fusion of various indian cultures and traditions among the roots of hinduism are the
historical vedic religion of iron age india itself already the product of a
composite of indo-aryan and harappan cultures and civilizations and mesolithic and neolithic cultures of
india such as the religions of the indus valley civilization this hindu fusion emerged after the
vedic period between bce and ce although often viewed as a
polytheistic faith hinduism is actually henotheistic there is only one supreme god in
hinduism brahma and all other deities are his aspects and reflections
since brahma is too immense a concept for the human mind to comprehend he presents himself in the many
different versions of himself which people recognize as deity such as visnu
shiva and the many others the hindu belief system includes million gods
and these range from those who are known at a national level such as krishna to lesser known local deities
CONFUCIANISM c. B.C.E.
[Music] confucianism developed from the
teachings of the chinese philosopher confucius which lived between and
bce it is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient china
and variously described as tradition a philosophy a religion a humanistic or rationalistic
religion a way of governing or simply a way of life confucianism may be identified as a
continuation of the shang zhao official religion or the chinese aboriginal religion which
has lasted uninterrupted for years the terms confucianism and confusion are
not meaningful terms in chinese they are western terms coined by th
century jesuit missionaries in china confucianism has deeply influenced
spiritual and political life in china its influence has also extended to korea
japan and vietnam east asians may profess themselves to be shintoists
taoists buddhists muslims or christians but seldom do they cease to be confusions confucianism
would engage in a historic push and pull with the philosophies of buddhism and taoism experiencing
ebbs and flows and influence with high points during the han tang and song dynasties as buddhism
became the dominant spiritual force in china confucianism declined in practice and
with the emergence of communism and maoism in the th century the mainstream practice of confucianism
was largely at an end
BUDDHISM c. B.C.E.
the history of buddhism spans from the th century bce to the present buddhism arose in the
eastern part of ancient india in and around the ancient kingdom of magdha
and is based on the teachings of siddhartha gautama this makes it one of the oldest
religions practiced today the religion evolved as it spread from the northeastern region of the indian
subcontinent through central east and southeast asia at one time or another it influenced
most of the asian continent the history of buddhism is also characterized by the development of
numerous movements schisms and schools with contrasting periods of expansion
and retreat by the rd century bce the picture we
have of buddhism is very different the marian indian emperor ahsoka the great who ruled from
to bce turned buddhism into the state religion of india he
provided a favorable social and political climate for the acceptance of buddhist ideas
encouraged buddhist missionary activity and even generated among buddhist monks
certain expectations of patronage and influence on the machinery of political decision-making archaeological evidence
for buddhism between the death of the buddha and the time of ahsoka is scarce after the time of ahsoka it is abundant
during the first century ce while the oldest buddhist groups were growing in the south in southeast asia
a new buddhist school named mahayana originated in northern india
this school had a more adaptable approach and was open to doctrinal innovations
mahayana buddhism is today the dominant form of buddhism in nepal tibet china japan mongolia
korea and vietnam [Music]
CHRISTIANITY c. C.E.
christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teaching of jesus of nazareth
christianity teaches that jesus is the son of god and the messiah the savior of humanity foretold in the
torah the primary scriptural doctrine of the jewish faith christian
scripture incorporates both the torah referred to by christians as the old testament
with the story of jesus his teachings and those of his contemporaneous disciples
that’s the new testament these form the bible the central text of the christian faith
christianity began in jerusalem as an outgrowth of judaism that considered jesus the christ
this idea and its adherence spread rapidly through ancient judea around the st century ce
then throughout the ancient world christianity has seen countless
reformation movements which spawned innumerable sex and offshoot denominations
far too many forms of practice exist to be named in one place but the faith’s three largest branches
are roman catholicism eastern orthodoxy and protestantism combined christianity
is the largest religion in the world with roughly . billion adherents or percent of the total population
its impact on the shape of world history and on present day world culture
is incalculable [Music]
GNOSTICISM c. ST CENTURY C.E.
the earliest origins of gnosticism are obscure and still disputed the proto-orthodox
christian groups called gnostics a heresy of christianity but according to the modern scholars the theology’s
origin is closely related to jewish sectarian milius and early christian sex
as christianity developed and became more popular so did gnosticism with both
proto-orthodox christian and gnostic christian groups often existing in the same places
the gnostic belief was widespread within christianity until the proto-orthodox christian
communities expelled the group in the second and third centuries ce
some scholars prefer to speak of gnosis when referring to first century ideas that later developed into gnosticism
and to reserve the term gnosticism for the synthesis of these ideas into a coherent movement
in the second century no gnostic texts clearly predate christianity
however the nag hamadi library contain hermetic teachings that can be argued to go back
to the old egyptian kingdom gnosticism likely refers not to a single religious
orientation but to an inter-religious phenomenon in which various groups across an array
of regions evolved to a similar set of beliefs and ideas a term adapted in modern historical
discourse gnosticism concerns the variety of religious systems
and beliefs in the ancient world that emerged from the judeo-christian tradition these belief systems held that
emanations from a single god were responsible for the creation of the material world and that as such all humans carried the
divine spark of god gnosticism is dualistic and draws sharp divides between the superior
spiritual world and the inferior material world with the gaining or receiving of special
hidden knowledge allowing transcendence from one realm to another
[Music] shinto is a religious tradition native
SHINTO c. C.E.
to japan initially an informal collection of beliefs and mythologies shinto was less
a religion than a distinctly japanese form of cultural observance the first recorded
use of the term shinto can be traced to the th century ce and is essentially the connective tissue
between ancient japanese customs and modern japanese life the primary focus of shinto is the
native belief in kami and interaction with them through public shrines these shrines are
essential artifacts of and channel shinto observation more than shinto shrines dot
japan traditional japanese styles of dress dance and ritual are also rooted in shinto
customs shinto is unique among religions as a reflection of japanese identity shinto
observance is not necessarily limited to those who view themselves as religious adherents
roughly three to four percent of the japanese population identifies as being part of a shinto
sect or congregation by contrast in a survey roughly
percent of japanese citizens reported visiting shinto shrines
islam is a monotheistic religion that like christianity and judaism traces its
roots to the garden of eden adam and the prophet abraham islam teaches that allah is the only god
and that muhammad is his messenger islam holds that god spoke to muhammad through the archangel gabriel sometime
around ce delivering the revelations that would form the quran the islamic faith proliferated
rapidly through the middle east particularly around the three holiest sites of the faith
mecca where an awakened muhammad made his first pilgrimage medina the center of early islamic faith
under muhammad’s leadership and jerusalem the spiritual capital of the ancient world
in the centuries to follow islam would simultaneously produce countless wars of succession and a
growing sense of spiritual unity within the arab world the dichotomy between internal conflict
and cultural unity remains a presence in the islamic faith today the dichotomy
would also give way to a division between the two dominant sects of islam sunni and shia today islam
is the dominant faith for large swaths of geography particularly in the middle east
southeast asia and north africa with more than . billion adherents
islam is the second largest religion in the world and the chief spiritual identity for
more than percent of the world’s population
before watching this presentation it is strongly recommended to watch parts one through three
in part one we learned the biocosmological origins of religion that likely evolved naturally from our ape
ancestors to current modern homo sapiens in parts and we learned the
chronology of institutionalized religions beginning in the ancient era some of you may ask why cover that
material well simply put it’s tough to read between the lines
without the lines in general the archive consistently presents the mainstream
paradigm on any given subject not only to present a more comprehensive analysis but also
to provide a full context in which alternative hypotheses are extrapolated and applied
and on this particular subject we are certain many of our viewers have already recognized where and when
the current mainstream academic paradigm has a very major hiccup perhaps it may
be better characterized as an anomaly remember back at the beginning of part
we discussed the younger dryas period and how human burials resumed at that time
well if something resumed that implies it stopped for some reason in his
book the cosmic code zechariah sitchin provided a chronological timeline for
earth before and after the great deluge in this timeline sitchin stated that around
years ago the first appearance of homo sapiens occurred as a result of genetic
engineering by an extraterrestrial race known as the anunnaki this flew in the
face of the current academic paradigm that had concluded that homo sapiens were approximately years old
but nearly twenty years later in the academic paradigm was turned on its
head based on the re-dating of a discovery from . max planck institute evolutionary
biologist john jacques hublin discovered five early humans three adults a child
and an adolescent located in a cave on a moroccan hillside between marrakech and
the atlantic coast at a site known as jebel or hood after using some of the newer dating
technologies in it was announced these fossils were actually
year old homo sapiens so here is yet another example where
sitchin’s research and interpretation of sumerian tablets and seals was vindicated by modern academic
science the reason we point this out is because it seems like that sitchin’s perspective
is continually being proven accurate as academic research catches up to his hypotheses now
let us jump to that time period known as the younger dryos first off what is it the academic
perspective claims that the younger dryers was a earth period that began roughly
years ago and finished years ago these twelve hundred years
mark the transition out of the last great ice age it was a period where the earth was a
very different place ice sheets covered most of north america in particular and also europe sea levels were much
much lower with a large proportion of land mass exposed then around years ago
global warming began and the vast ice sheets began to steadily melt
the problem is that ice ages generally don’t end quickly at years ago global temperatures
rocketed up by as much as degrees celsius in only a few years suddenly a large
portion of the ice sheets melted and the earth emerged out of the full ice age here marks
the start of the younger dryas many of you are familiar with the author graham
hancock in his works hancock is a proponent of the younger dryer’s impact hypothesis
which claims that massive fragments from a comet struck earth years ago and in turn
spawned the younger drivers period he explains quote the result was a global disaster that
lasted for thirteen hundred years it is i believe the smoking gun that made us a species with amnesia
and wiped out almost all traces of a former high civilization of prehistoric antiquity
but there were survivors who preserved at least some of the knowledge of the civilization that had been destroyed
with the intention of transmitting it to future generations so it is not an accident that the first
traces of reemergence of civilization in the form of the earliest known megalithic architecture
and the re-promulgation of agricultural skills occur at gobekli tempe in turkey
years ago a date that coincides exactly with the end of
the younger dryas and the return to a more congenial global environment
everything we have been taught about the origins of civilization occurs after years ago in other words
after the radical punctuation mark of the younger dryas end quote let’s jump back to sitchin now
in that same cosmic code timeline from sitchin describes the occurrence of
a great deluge and wouldn’t you know it he concluded that it occurred approximately
bce or around years ago
in his interpretation of the sumerian references it was actually the proximity of the planet
nibiru passing nearby that was the cause of the havoc here is where we find the story of inky
warning sasudra to build a submersible ship and the great flood stories that permeated the ancient era religions
even though hancock and sitchin disagree as to the cause of the younger dryas
and the potential great flood that occurred during that time the result is the same it basically
resets civilization both men actually agree that high civilization existed prior to
this time they simply disagree as to his origin regardless of which hypothesis is chosen
we have near unanimous agreement that civilization was restarted after this period
and when it comes to the religions of humans we can discern a clearer picture of how those religions
originated and were utilized for social control suddenly we moved to city centers and
developed more complex pantheons of deities the natural spirituality humans
developed over a quarter of a million years had been usurped and co-opted by an external force
and this is when we believe religion becomes a tool the question is a tool for who
the archive has already addressed this part of the story in four separate videos that we encourage you to
view in order to round out your understanding of this time period
the anunnaki gods of ancient egypt ancient india ancient mesoamerica and ancient
greece go in depth about the plethora of religious parallels between these cultures
and potential extraterrestrial origins those presentations among several others
on our channel have helped us conclude that religion is nothing more than a tool that’s been used over millennia to
manipulate people usually for the benefit of a select few
we have a pretty good idea of what is civilization and what is religion and why they are vitally related
civilization as we have seen is a complex of acquired habits it is
not innate in man but each generation has to acquire the ever increasing mass of
habits and traditions which make it up but these habits and traditions cannot be passed on successfully
from generation to generation in human society without strong social sanctions
or adequate means of social control for many of them call upon the individual
to restrain his animal impulses and even to sacrifice himself for the good of his
group the most ancient of these means of social control is probably religion
as soon as the habits of any primitive group were reflected upon in connection with the welfare of the
group they became inevitably associated with the elements of luck of good fortune or bad fortune of safety
and danger to the group in brief with the whole mysterious wonder working powers of
nature thus superhuman sanctions became attached to those habits of action which were
found to be safe and conducive to group welfare they became in other words
the mores of the group and the moors thus embedded in religious sanctions became
all-powerful out of them were developed all the other agencies of social control
it is for this reason that we find primitive science and art as well as primitive government law
morality and education all associated with religion often indeed indistinguishable from it
social control was thus primitively a religious control and through all the subsequent centuries
religion has been the core of social control because it has been at the heart of the standards the values
the mores of every civilization as the guardian of the moors religion develops prohibitions
and taboos of actions of which the group or its dominant class disapproves it may lend itself
therefore to maintaining a given social order longer than that order is necessary or
even after it has become a stumbling block to social progress for the same reason it may be exploited
by a dominant class in their own interests it is in this way that religion has
often become an impediment to progress and an instrument of class
oppression every once in a while we have someone from within the religious ranks
who explains the truth of its usage as a tool for social control
listen carefully to episcopal bishop john shelby sponge
i don’t think he’ll exist i happen to believe in life after death but i don’t think it’s got a thing to do
with reward and punishment religion is always in the control business [Music]
and that’s something people don’t really understand it’s it’s in the guilt-producing control
business and if you have heaven as a place where you’re rewarded for your goodness and
hell is a place where you’re punished for your evil then you sort of have control of the
population and so they create this fiery place which has quite literally scared the
hell out of a lot of people throughout christian history and it’s part of a control tactic but wait a minute you’re saying that hell
the idea of a place under the earth or somewhere where you’re tormented for an eternity is actually an invention
of the church i think the church fired its furnaces hotter than anybody else but i think there’s a sense in most
religious life of reward and punishment in some form the church doesn’t like for people to grow up
because you can’t control grown-ups that’s why we talk about being born again when you’re born again you’re still a
child the people don’t need to be born again they need to grow up they need to accept their responsibility for themselves in
the world what do you make of the theology which uh is pretty quite prominent these days in
america which is that there is one guaranteed way not to go to hell and that is to accept
jesus as your personal savior i grew up in that tradition uh every church i know claims that we
are the true church and they have some ultimate authority we have the infallible pope we
have the inerrant bible the idea that the truth of god can be bound in any human system by any human
creed by any human book is almost beyond imagination for me
i mean god is not a christian god is not a jew or a muslim or a hindu a buddhist
all of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery
of god i honor my tradition i walk through my tradition but i don’t
believe my tradition defines god i think it only points me to god you and i are emerging people not fallen
people our problem is not that we are born in sin
our problem is we do not yet know how to achieve being fully human
the function of the christ is not to rescue the sinners [Music]
but to empower you and to call you to be more deeply and fully human
than you’ve ever realized there was the potential within you to be maybe salvation
needs to be conveyed in terms of enhancing your humanity rather than rescuing you from it life is
a startling and wondrous experience and eventually i think we’re going to discover
that god is unfolding through the life of our consciousness and our self-consciousness
and is not a parent figure up in the sky but i believe because i’m related to something that is not bound by time and
space that i will share in whatever god’s eternity is
the question becomes why is it so many people care so much about the personal religious
views of others if everyone kept their beliefs private as they should practice them in
the appropriate places and didn’t judge others who believe differently
we would most certainly have a more peaceful world have you ever wondered how many murders
wars and acts of terror were committed in human history in the name of religion
not faith or spirituality but religion in a very practical way organized
religion today is simply one group of humans telling another that they’re wrong it’s
one group of people manipulating the masses to oppose another group of people based
on their own interpretation of a faith apparently it is easy to take a group of
people with like-minded beliefs group them together and manipulate them for ulterior goals
as we focus on certain periods of history we find that religious leaders often perpetuated that specific
kings or emperors were ordained by whatever relevant god and for the people to revolt against
them would be blasphemy to question their rule was to go against god
thus risking damnation organized religion can force people to support
leaders who don’t have their best interest in mind by simply evoking the wrath of whatever god they worship and this isn’t
just a christian thing you see this with almost every religion around the world
our goal as humans should simply be to exist as good people
and that’s essentially what the core of all of these faiths tell us just be a good person
however it’s organized religion that has taken that simple goal and twisted it for human-made selfish
ambitions greed and power but when we say human-made we must consider the ancient
astronaut hypothesis when it asserts that homo sapiens are the result of a genetic modification
could such a modification have instilled those selfish ambitions greed and lust for power
or even simply have amplified them from what the archive understands about the sumerian
descriptions of the anunnaki it would seem very feasible that is what happened
the anunnaki seemed to possess some of the worst human emotions and inclinations but in essence it is
the reverse we possess their negative attributes as such the already naturally formed
spirituality of homo sapiens would certainly have been a means by which to exercise control
over an increasing population indeed it is a viable explanation for the
original repurposing of religion by another planetary race and then by us
humans after the younger dryas but what if the anunnaki epoch
is but one of many not over several hundreds of thousands of years but over several millions nearly two
years ago the archive posted a presentation titled the silurian hypothesis
while the anunnaki epoch spans back nearly years the solarian hypothesis
assesses modern science’s ability to detect evidence of a prior advanced civilization
perhaps several million years ago in a paper adam frank an astrophysicist at the
university of rochester and gavin schmidt director of the nasa goddard institute
imagined an advanced civilization before humans and pondered whether it would be possible to detect an industrial
civilization in the geological record by the way in case you were wondering
the term solarian hypothesis was inspired by a s doctor who
serial doctor who and the solarians which featured a species called the solarians
according to the researchers since fossilization is relatively rare and little of earth’s exposed surface is
from before the quaternary time period which is about . million years ago
the chances of finding direct evidence of such a civilization such as technological artifacts is small
after a great time span the researchers concluded we would be more likely to find indirect
evidence such as anomalies in the chemical composition or isotope ratios of sediments objects that could
indicate possible evidence of past civilization include plastics and nuclear waste
residues buried deep underground or on the ocean floor prior civilizations could have gone to
space and left artifacts on other celestial bodies such as the moon and mars and
interestingly the evidence for artifacts on these two worlds would be easier to find than on earth where
erosion and tectonic activity would erase much of it
so we very likely have some gaps to say the least but if you bother to jump out the
academic circle you find a whole lot of stuff that fills in the holes gaps crevices cracks and wrinkles
of the mainstream paradigm the history of religion on earth is not simply the history of one facet
of our human development as a species it is also the history of
government law art science civilization itself and perhaps
even extraterrestrial intervention