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I'm not really sure if this is the right forum to post this topic on. Anyway...

I'm researching something right now for a story I'm working on, and I don't know where to look. Google seems fine, but I'm tired of filtering through all those links. Does anyone here know where I can find a graph of the religions on earth before the year 1960? Like a map of the earth that shows the religion of each places?

Thanks in advance.

Rad :)

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I'm not really sure if this is the right forum to post this topic on. Anyway...

I'm researching something right now for a story I'm working on, and I don't know where to look. Google seems fine, but I'm tired of filtering through all those links. Does anyone here know where I can find a graph of the religions on earth before the year 1960? Like a map of the earth that shows the religion of each places?

Thanks in advance.

Rad :)

An interesting request Rad.

I have done a quick research for a map to no avail.

Perhaps someone else knows of such a map.

The difficulty lay in how you define "religion".

Historically and from from a secular view point the first time one of our ancestors in prehistoric times fell down and bowed to the Sun or the thunder and lightning, because he could not explain them, religion was born.

Note the reference to "could not explain them". This statement implies that the ancestor had some degree of sentience.

Moreover the earliest religions were sporadic and restricted to local tribes.

Hinduism being one of the earliest to record its doctrine makes it the earliest in some eyes, but whether or not that was before the Egyptian Gods of 3000-6000 BC is debated along with influences of lost cultures like Atlantis (questionably referenced by some as 9500BC). Also while the West was searching for divine explanations of existence, the East was developing "ways of life" which would eventually give rise to Eastern philosophies.

In the 1960s, comparative religion which had begun under Annie Bessant and the Theosophical society, in the late 19th century, sought to investigate and compare world religions without denying the validity of any of them. For the first time, there was a direct consideration of ancient Greek thought and Eastern intuition. The similarities were far greater then anyone had imagined. It was like connecting the dots in a puzzle.

Even more astounding to those of us trying to make sense of it all in the 1960s, was that several people were trying to accommodate the insight of the philosophies of all the religions with Western psychology.

A seminar was held to show the similarities between psychotherapy (note: not psychology) and enlightenment attained from Zen Buddhism (Satori.) *See book titled: Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis by Erich Fromm, D.T.Suziki and Richard De Martino.*

I mention all this as a prelude to a warning on the various alternative views of religious origins, dates and places. Many are tainted with the desire to prove their religion as the only "true" one. This can seriously affect the authenticity of such maps and dates as you seek.

The following links looked interesting in relation to your request, but I would say you only need to gleam through them for a general idea.

The influence of the Greco-Roman Gods and Abrahamic religions form most of the Western culture bases of religion. While Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi, B.C. 2953-2838 sacrificed to the gods, China would eventually embrace Confucius and Taoism in the East. All of course are influenced by the Indian Hinduism, elements of which date back to 5500BC.

Please do not feel I have left out your religion. These notes are attempting to be objective without alluding to piety.

As an atheist with agnostic tendencies, I am not at all interested in being converted or converting anyone.

In fact as is my custom, I wish that the deity of your choice go with you and keep you safe.

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?u=11069&i=1123

http://www.comparative-religion.com/

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adhe...tml#NotIncluded

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adhe....html#Classical

http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/...ion/latest.html

also this wiki-answers on the oldest religion will give pause to thinking about how you define religion.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_olde...on_in_the_world

Hope this is of some help in your research.

:lipssealed::biggrin:

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Well, Des, I don't like religion, any one of them, very much. This would just be for a story that I'll be writing. I'm actually looking for a map of the earth before the year 1960 that shows the religion of each places. Most of the maps I found have been recent ones. Anyway, if I don't find anything, I'll just use those. It's fiction anyway.

Rad :lipssealed:

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I am a Camyist. As religions go the Camyists are fairly laid back: 15% of your worldy chattels and wealth, and 15% of your income thereafter. Then! You are free to do what you want! Pretty good, huh!?

Benefits include:

No getting up early on Sunday mornings ... or any other morning, for that matter.

No dress code of any variety. In fact the less dressed the better.

On joining you get a feather from the divine bird, himself.

Confessions over the ether. A new scheme, our Bird has instigated. Very popular!

I can't tell you more until you join. :lipssealed: join :biggrin: JOIN! :sneaky:

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Rad:

You seem to be making the assumption that it's one religion per country. I'm as far from an expert on religions as there is, and would even refuse to join Camy's expect for the one redeeming quality he didn't list -- if you get tired of it, you can roast the big bird and have it for lunch -- but I'd really think that in most countries where the populace is free to worship as it wants, there are several or many religions to choose from. Now most probably have one, or one or two, major religions, but you didn't ask the question that way.

I doubt there are many countries at all that only have one religion practiced it them.

But again, I don't know anything about religions, other than I don't believe in them.

C

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I don't like religion, any one of them, very much. This would just be for a story that I'll be writing. I'm actually looking for a map of the earth before the year 1960 that shows the religion of each places. Most of the maps I found have been recent ones.

I was just reading through The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge the other day, and they had a pretty thorough list of the major religions of each country of the world. I believe it was there that I found out that the Muslim religion is now the #1 religious faith of the world, followed closely behind by Catholicism. (If you lump all Christian faiths together, then that would be #1.)

I think between Buddhists, Catholics, and Muslims, that covers about 75% of the world religions.

Me personally, I'm not a religious guy at all, but I don't think that religion is inherently a bad thing. I think it's a like a lot of things in life: a little won't hurt you -- might even help you -- but a sad number of people carry it to an extreme and screw it up for everybody. It's intolerance and "not-invented-here" thinking that give all religion a bad name. (I'm reminded of Rosie O'Donnell garnering a lot of protests when she equated religious Protestant fundamentalists with Taliban terrorists, and I think she's not that far off.)

I've got some minor pro-and-con religious themes coming up in a new chapter of Pieces of Destiny, and my hope is to skewer some cliches and traditional thinking along the way. Just a side-plot to the main action. (In addition to more sex.)

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