What is the oldest known religion in the world?

• Religion goes back at least as far as human civilizations. Nobody knows what the first religion was. The Egyptians predate the Jews, The Mesopotamians predate them. The Chinese predate them...
  
• Religions with a creation story often claim to be the oldest, since the world began with that creation and with the god or gods of that religion.
• Others say that animism would be the oldest known type of religion. This is a primitive religion, which sprang up independently in many areas of the world, but in most countries has mainly been replaced by more formal religion. In animism, spirits are considered to inhabit familiar objects in the landscape. For example, Australian aboriginal beliefs probably go back 60,000 or more.
  
• Remnants of animal worship survived in Judaism and Christianity. Satan was a serpent; Jehovah, like Osiris, was worshiped as a bull; Christ was the lamb of God, and the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of a dove. However, these are only symbols of the worshiped object, and are not worshiped in themselves.
  
• The Egyptian religion can also be considered the oldest religion. Its origins date back beyond 3000 BCE.

• First off, this is a very general question. Religion comes from "religare," which is to bind, or have union with, etc. so humans throughout our history have been seeking this union. Yoga, in Sanskrit, means union. This longing for connection to God, to worship God, is innate in most all human beings.
  

• Hinduism: Since Sanskrit is the oldest written language, as far as religion being written down, and as far as organized religion is concerned, it would be Hinduism. It is said that when Rama appeared, according to our calendar, was a million or so years ago (not sure of the exact date, but it's a long time!) And Krishna, God himself according to the Vedic scriptures, appeared here 5,000 years ago. Buddha, about 500 B.C., Jesus, about 2,000 years ago. If you go through the different religious book and study this question deeply, you will find out that Hinduism is the oldest religion of the world. There are no dates and facts, but its history is about more than 50000 thousands years ago.

• Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all Abrahamic religions. Abraham dates back to 1800 BC.

• This also depends on religion - my personal belief is Judaism, since Adam and Eve, and then through Noah. Many people don't believe that nature or sex worship, solar worship, or worship of elements or forces of nature are technically religions. Most such people believe that a polytheistic worship of gods that represent the values of the people was the first religion (gone from today's world).

• From a Biblical perspective, undoubtedly many of the religions of the world are very ancient, and no doubt included what is known today as various 'animistic' elements. Such worship is, according to the Biblical view, the worship of the creature rather than the Creator who made the particular object, whether it be the sun, or a tree etc. It would be akin to us worshiping and adoring a technological invention, instead of praising the inventor, as we know that everything has a maker. In the same way the Bible records these religions as a degeneration from the original monotheism we find in the beginning. The Bible also records the first type of religious ceremony in Genesis 3:3-6 where Cain and Abel both made offerings unto the Lord, the Creator of all. According to the Biblical view, all other religions would have come after this time and developed from it, essentially as creations of man. Genesis 4:3-5 (King James Version)

• Even before this religious ceremony of the offering of the sacrifice, it is recorded that Adam had a form of open fellowship with God as He had spoken to him and received and understood God's instructions. This simple understanding and fellowship between persons, which in a sense transcends all religious practice as man meets personally with His maker, is what is restored to a degree when a person becomes a 'new creation' in Christ and receives the in-dwelling Holy Spirit. This requires no religious ceremony, can occur anywhere and anytime, and is open to everyone who wishes to worship 'in Spirit and in truth.' It also has the assurance that everything has already been done and completed through the finished work of Jesus Christ, not through any amount of religious works which the devotee can do.

• Worship of Animals and Plants - In the infancy of the world animals were deified and adored, and trees and plants were regarded as sentient beings and received the homage of man. Nearly every animal has been an object of worship. This worship flourished for ages in Egypt and India. In Egypt the worship of the bull (Apis) was associated with that of Osiris (Serapis). The cow is still considered sacred in India. Serpent worship has existed in every part of the world.

• Australian aboriginal religion began about 6,000 years ago, not 60,000. However, the age of ancient religions predate Christianity's claim of a young earth.

• 'Archaeologists have discovered what seems to be remains of the world's earliest religious worship site in the remote Ngamiland region of Botswana. Here, our ancestors performed advanced rituals, worshiping the python some 70,000 years ago. The sensational discovery strengthens Africa's position as the cradle of modern man. ... While, up until now, scholars have largely held that man's first rituals were carried out over 40,000 years ago in Europe, it now appears that they were wrong about both the time and place. Associate Professor Sheila Coulson, from the Oslo University, however claims to have proof that modern humans started performing advanced rituals in Africa 70,000 years ago. She discovered mankind's oldest known ritual in Botswana.'--Quote from AFROL.com.
  

• No doubt its Islam, The first man also the the first prophet was Adam on the Earth, Adam(Peace be upon him) taught that Allah is the name of the God and follow the commands of Allah was the religion.

• Vedic Hinduism and Zoroastrianism are considered the oldest organized religions.

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First answer by Lafo11. Last edit by Natural Val. Contributor trust: 1780 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 23 [recommend question].