What is the world's oldest active religion?

What is the world's oldest active religion?

Around 85% of people worldwide identify as members of a religion, the majority of which date back thousands upon thousands of years. Hinduism is the oldest significant religion still in existence among the various religious belief systems that exist around the world. However, when discussing this subject, it is important to note a few different spiritual belief structures.

What year did Hinduism start?

Hinduism dates back about 4,000 years. The majority of academics agree that Hinduism first appeared in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent between 2300 and 1500 BCE. But it didn't appear out of nowhere. Its history is extremely complicated and occasionally divisive.

The earliest Vedic books, or Vedas, which were written between 1500 BCE and 500 BCE, are one of the earliest moments in time that Hinduism can be securely pinpointed with empirical proof.

The Vedas are a foundational document of Hinduism that contain many of the religion's underlying beliefs about reality, the self, and much more. They were written in the ancient Sanskrit language. However, the history of Hinduism is incredibly complicated. Like any religion, it has undergone significant development over the years and is made up of incredibly varied ideas and practises.

The majority of academics agree that Hinduism emerged from a variety of cultural, spiritual, and philosophical traditions that evolved for thousands of years in and around the Indus Valley, which is now the location of northwest India, Pakistan, and northeast Afghanistan.

One explanation holds that a group moving from the Indus Valley known as the "Aryans" (not to be confused with the pseudo-scientific racial notion co-opted by the Nazis) transmitted the traditions in these writings throughout the Indian subcontinent. The Vedic scriptures, which were a compilation of their many traditions, served as the foundation for Hinduism.

The Aryan Migration Theory of Hinduism's genesis, however, is not universally accepted. Hinduism's origins, as well as whether the so-called Aryans were related to the Indus Valley, are all hotly contested topics in today's geopolitical, identity, and historical discussions. These might be contentious issues that make dialogue difficult.

Are there any religions that predate Hinduism?

Hinduism has over 1.03 billion adherents in the twenty-first century, or about 15% of the world's population. The majority of these followers reside in India, which will have the most people on the planet in 2023.

Other significant world religions are Buddhism (7% of the world's population), Islam (23%) and Christianity (32%). Judaism, the Baha'i faith, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, and Zoroastrianism are a few other notable religions.

Additionally, about 400 million people worldwide (6%) practise what are referred to as "folk or traditional religions." This comprises countless, incredibly diverse spiritual traditions, such as traditional African religions, folk religions from China, Native American religions, Australian aboriginal faiths, and historic "pagan" European religions.

Unfortunately, the history of folk religions is not as well-defined as that of the world's major religions. There isn't much physical evidence to investigate because many folk religions have been transmitted orally down the millennia. Even some of their histories have been purposefully forgotten through brutal persecution or enslavement.

However, it wouldn't be difficult to argue that some of these ancient faiths have ties to concepts that date back thousands of years, possibly even before the roots of the majority of major world religions were even sown.

An overwhelming majority of Hindus (94%) live in one country, India. The largest populations of Hindus outside India are in Nepal (2% of all Hindus) and Bangladesh (1%). Southern Asia – a subregion defined by the U.N. Population Division as consisting of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – is home to about 99% of the world’s Hindu population.

Overall, an estimated 60% of Southern Asia’s total population is Hindu. Hindus form a majority in just three countries: Nepal (81%), India (80%) and Mauritius (56%). But 97% of all Hindus live in those countries, making Hindus the most likely of the religious groups in this study to live as a majority.