Questions About the History of Religion

2,085 BC. Judaism-Abraham
1,500 BC. Hinduism- no specific founder
560 BC. Buddhism- Gautama Buddha
550 BC. Taoism - Lao Tzu
30 AD. Christianity –Jesus Christ
590 AD Roman Catholicism- Developed after Constantine; Pope Gregory
610 AD Islam- Mohammed
1515 AD Protestantism- (Reformers) Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin
1650 AD Tibetan Buddhism-Dalai Lama

My mind got to thinking about the world's great religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. I do not pretend to be an expert by any means, but it seems to me one could argue that it was God's desire to embrace humanity that gave rise to these religions and, since their inception, the human hunger for the divine that has sustained them over time. I've also been pondering the passionate and not always respectful debate that takes place whenever proponents of each religious tradition collide over spiritual issues.

I suppose this is inevitable. Afterall, the last thing one would want is to find cracks in his belief system that could compromise his very faith. And so spiritual discussion, instead of being an open-minded search for truth, becomes a closed-minded and passionate appeal to others to see the errancy of their ways, to drop their beliefs and to embrace the religion of the most persistent and vocal. We call that "evangelizing."

I find it curious given the exponential changes that have occurred in the life of humanity with the expansion of knowledge and all of our technological advancements that the world hasn't given birth to a new world religion the likes of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam in nearly 1400 years. A part of me finds it odd that God would remain silent or, at best, continue to speak only in antiquated languages that predate the renaissance of humanity. Or, perhaps, could it be that we raise our voices so loud in apology of our faith that God couldn't get a word in edgewise? On the other hand, the very fact that there has been no new world religion could be God's ultimate endorsement of the efficacy and his commitment to the religions we have.

What do you think?

Copyright 2006 Don Neale, Jr.
All rights reserved.