what is the oldest religion?

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Lion of Islam,

Therefore, you need to study Salvation History, beginning with the Jewish people from their perspective, not yours.

'The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God, and God never ceases to draw man to himself…Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:

‘The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.’

In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth. These forms of religious expressions, despite their ambiguities they bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious being:

For one ancestor (God) made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and He allotted the times of their existence and boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For in him, ‘we live and move and have our being.’

Catholic Universal Catechism 27 and 28.

So, the foundation of God is love itself. And He created this world, our times, lands and boundaries…and WE ARE TO RESPECT EACH OTHER…and not want to take over and force one religion on another…our differences serve a purpose that is in mystery…

You must study a faith from its people…and know God is speaking to them in a way to be respected…and we expect the same from you.
 
Your question seems to be a complex question with multiple implications and I think we need to be careful to define some of our terms. First of all, even though God did create Adam and did place a special calling, promise and blessing on Abraham and his descendents, the Bible doesn’t say that “God created all this in Jewish form.” When God created Adam, Judaism was not in complete form yet, even though Judaism would descend from Adam and Abraham’s blood. Judaism carefully traces its roots all the way back to the creation of the universe, and the creation of man, connecting Adam to Abraham. This started out as oral tradition which was written down much, much later. So that needs to be taken into account.

Second, even among scholars of the writings of the Vedas, there is some dispute about when the actual writings of the Vedas were written. Some of them might date back to 1500 BC, but some Biblical scholars date the Exodus of the Hebrews around this time. Conservative Biblical scholars (and I) hold that Moses was the primary author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible.) This would date the Pentateuch as being as old as some of the Vedas. But it is true that Christianity was started with Christ or, technically, after his resurrection. The New Testament was written in the first century. So, in one sense, one might claim that Hinduism is older than “CHRISTianity” because it dates back before Christ. [However, Christianity’s roots are in Judaism, which, again, traces its roots all the way back to the first man and woman.]

But if a Hindu apologist uses the phrase “Hinduism is older than Christianity” kind of as a “gotcha” statement, trying to make something more credible because of its age, their implications include a couple fallacies. First, Hinduism has changed and added books with their Vedas over the years, and it’s difficult to say all the Vedas are older than the Torah. Second, just because something is older doesn’t make something more true. This is the logical fallacy “Argumentum ab Annis” (argument because of age). Just because a religion, a thousand years ago from a primitive group, taught that child sacrifice to the gods was good, this didn’t make their belief or their practice true or good. And not just because of the argument that one religion being older makes it better. However, God’s existence, his creation, the existence of Adam, and calling of Abraham existed in reality years before Moses documented them in the Torah.
 
firstmode said:
Your question seems to be a complex question with multiple implications and I think we need to be careful to define some of our terms. First of all, even though God did create Adam and did place a special calling, promise and blessing on Abraham and his descendents, the Bible doesn’t say that “God created all this in Jewish form.” When God created Adam, Judaism was not in complete form yet, even though Judaism would descend from Adam and Abraham’s blood. Judaism carefully traces its roots all the way back to the creation of the universe, and the creation of man, connecting Adam to Abraham. This started out as oral tradition which was written down much, much later. So that needs to be taken into account.

Second, even among scholars of the writings of the Vedas, there is some dispute about when the actual writings of the Vedas were written. Some of them might date back to 1500 BC, but some Biblical scholars date the Exodus of the Hebrews around this time. Conservative Biblical scholars (and I) hold that Moses was the primary author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible.) This would date the Pentateuch as being as old as some of the Vedas. But it is true that Christianity was started with Christ or, technically, after his resurrection. The New Testament was written in the first century. So, in one sense, one might claim that Hinduism is older than “CHRISTianity” because it dates back before Christ. [However, Christianity’s roots are in Judaism, which, again, traces its roots all the way back to the first man and woman.]

But if a Hindu apologist uses the phrase “Hinduism is older than Christianity” kind of as a “gotcha” statement, trying to make something more credible because of its age, their implications include a couple fallacies. First, Hinduism has changed and added books with their Vedas over the years, and it’s difficult to say all the Vedas are older than the Torah. Second, just because something is older doesn’t make something more true. This is the logical fallacy “Argumentum ab Annis” (argument because of age). Just because a religion, a thousand years ago from a primitive group, taught that child sacrifice to the gods was good, this didn’t make their belief or their practice true or good. And not just because of the argument that one religion being older makes it better. However, God’s existence, his creation, the existence of Adam, and calling of Abraham existed in reality years before Moses documented them in the Torah.
Click to expand...
Sorry, it made it looked like I typed all of that above, but I did not. I do not want to pagerize:

probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.5207607/k.A51B/What_About_Hindus_Claim_that_Hinduism_is_the_Oldest_Religion.htm
 
I believe that the Pre-Flood world was a much more spiritually active world, where the spiritual and the physical interacted much more.

I believe the people who died in the flood knew of God and chose to follow thier own ways. I think that religion, as far as Judaism, the Torah, and the Law was not how men walked with God in those days.

**Genesis 2:

8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. **

**15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” **

**Genesis 3

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” **

23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side [e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

God placed a cherubim with a flaming sword to physically guard the tree of life from humanity that was banished from the garden.

**Genesis 4

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” [d] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. **

Cain and Abel interacted with the Lord God much like Adam and Eve did in the garden. They were not waiting to hear from a prophet to hear from God, but heard from God.

**Genesis 5

21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. **

**Genesis 6

The Flood

1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with [a] man forever, for he is mortal ** ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. **

** 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress [c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.****
 
The first religion, perhaps, can be traced to understand who man is, coming from the first page of the Universal Catechism…in essence…

The desire for God was written in the human heart by God.
 
Two of the oldest religions that can be at least verified by modern archaeology would be the ancient religions centered around the Gobleki Teke. Gobleki Teke is the oldest temple discovered by archaeology.

Stonehenge is rumored to be around the same age of Gobleki Teke. Both Stonehenge and Gobleki Teke are around the same age and are considered some of the oldest cults known to man.

Overall, Hinduism is considered the oldest organized religion. It’s so old that much of it’s history can only be found in lore and mythology. Quite simply, of all the major religions in history, Hinduism is quite old. It is older than Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and other early religions that were influential. [Link] [Link2]
[Link3]

There is evidence of burial rites in the Neanderthal tribes. There is also evidence of Ancestor Worship, Snake Worship, and nature worship…though those are not so much religions because they aren’t exactly organized.
 
AJMan,

That is very interesting on the first temple found. I wonder if they were monolithic or believed in multiple gods…another issue.

I don’t mean to be repetitious, but I found the quote from St. Paul on man…As St. Paul said of the Gentiles: ‘For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.’

This also implies that from these reflections, the human being can perceive beauty, morality, goodness…or they can see others…so in fact, it is the human being in and of itself that has the soil for faith…and it is from his ‘earth’ that he chooses what he needs…I believe from the beginning there were those who were monolithic but did not express it symbolically in outward form.

People ask who am I, where did I come from, where am I going…and different peoples and different regions have different responses. In our salvation faith tradition, it has been said that the Jews were chosen to be cultivated to bring forth the Messiah. In the meantime, scientists have discovered there were other peoples who also believed in one God, but were not chosen for the Messiah…a mystery why the Jews were chosen still exists.
 
On the side, I just heard this evening that there was an artifact found in Israel with Hebrew writings going back 10,000 years, not the set 6,000 years…

Again, I would think it all depends on the conditions of one’s soul…there would be those who would seek the One True God even then, and others who would idolize creatures or nature…a mystery
 
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