The earliest evidence of religious ideas goes back to the several hundred thousand years to the middle and lower Paleolithic periods. Some evidence of the religious ideas are some artifacts that were found in Africa from the Stone Age from the burial sites you could see the paintings of figures like the Lion man , Venus figurines cave paintings from chauvet cave and the elaborate ritual from sungir are some evidence of ideas of religion.
In the 19th century researchers offered various theories regarding the origin of religion
Such as Edward Burnett Tylor and Herbert Spencer proposed the idea of animism while an archaeologist by the name of John Lubbock used the term “fetishism” Meanwhile religious scholar Max Muller theorized that religion began in “Naturalism” in which he meant mythological explanation of natural events.
The oldest religious site yet discovered anywhere includes circles of erected massive T shaped stone pillars the world’s oldest known megaliths decorated with abstract ,enigmatic pictograms and carvings of animals reliefs. The site near the home of original wild wheat was built before the so called Neolithic Revolution the beginning of organization of advanced order not hitherto associated with Paleolithic societies .The site abandoned around the time of the first agricultural societies started ,is still being excavated an analyzed and thus might shed some light to some to the relevance of it to the older foraging communities .
The Pyramid Text from ancient Egypt are the oldest known religious text in the world, dating to between 2400-2300 BCE. Writing played a major role in sustaining organized religion by standardizing religious ideas regardless of time or location. Surviving early copies of complete religious texts include the Dead sea scrolls which support the textual accuracy of later Biblical scriptures, with Old Testament copies written 2000 years ago. Complete Old Testament Hebrew texts, translated into the Greek language were in use by the time the New testament scriptures were written.
Various apostles originally composed most of the New Testament in the koine Greek language , with very few New Testament scriptures originally written in Aramaic .
In ancient times, religion was indistinguishable from what is known as mythology in the present day and consisted of regular rituals based on a belief in higher supernatural entities who created and continued to maintain the world and surrounding cosmos. Theses entities were anthropomorphic and behaved in ways which mirrored the values of the culture closely or sometimes engaged in acts antithetical to those values. Religion, then and now, concerns itself with the spiritual aspect of the human condition, gods and goddesses , the creation of the world, a human being's place in the world, life after death eternity, and how to escape from suffering in this world or in the next; and every nation has created its own god in its own image and A Greek philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon once wrote:
“Mortals suppose that the gods are born and have clothes and voices and shapes like their own. But if oxen, horses and lions had hands or could paint with their hands and fashion works as men do, horses would paint horse-like images of gods and oxen oxen-like ones, and each would fashion bodies like their own. The Ethiopians consider the gods flat-nosed and black; the Thracians blue-eyed and red-haired”
Polytheism
Polytheism is thought to have originated with Hinduism in about 2500 BC. Hindu beliefs were recorded in the Bhagavad Gita, which revealed that many gods were subject to a supreme Brahman god. Polytheism was also the religion of many other ancient cultures, including Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt , Greece and Rome. The ancient polytheistic belief systems viewed gods as being in control of all natural events such as rainfall, harvests and fertility. Generally, polytheistic cultures believed in sacrifices to appease their gods. For instance, the Canaanites sacrificed to the male god, Baal, and his female counterpart, Ashteroth. Baal controlled the rain and the harvest, while Ashteroth controlled fertility and reproduction. The Greeks and Romans developed polytheism to a highly structured pantheon of gods and goddesses.
Monotheism
Monotheism is the foundation of the Judeo-christian-muslim line of religions, which began with a man named Abraham in about 2000 BC. God began revealing Himself to the world through the nation of israel . The Jewish Scriptures record the journey of the Israelites from slaves in Egypt to the "promised land" in Canaan under the leadership of Moses. During a period of about 1500 years, God revealed what became the Old Testament of the bible , relating the history of Israel with the character and laws of God. During the period of the Roman Empire, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem as the long-awaited Messiah. The ministry of Jesus ended in about 32 AD with His crucifixion and resurrection. After Christ's ascension into heaven, the Christian church grew in His name and the New Testament was written. About 600 years later, Muhammad began preaching in Mecca. Muhammad believed he was the ultimate prophet of God, and his teachings became the precepts of islam as recorded in the Qur'an.
Religion Now
Nearly 75% of the world's population practices one of the five most common religions of the world: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.
Christianity and Islam are the two religions most commonly spread across the world. These two religions together cover the religious affiliation of more than half of the world's population.
Most Common religions Right Now
Christianity 2.1 billion
Islam 1.3 billion
Nonreligious (Secular/Agnostic/Atheist) 1.1 billion
Hinduism 900 million
Chinese traditional religion 394 million
Buddhism 376 million.
Primal-indigenous 300 million
African traditional and Diasporic 100 million
This shows what religion has come to it shows how many believers each religion has or how many non believers there are that was Religion By Fernando Granados.