Why were Christianity, Islam, Buddhism successful as major religions? Why is the vast majority of Europe Christian and not Norse/Roman/Celtic, for example?
On a similar note, why has Hinduism remained so strong as a religion?
the reasons for that question can and have filled books
even the gist of those reasons would be enormous
>>531322
>Christianity
Living forever in paradise sounds good to people with short lifespans and live in complete hellholes
>Islam
Same as above, plus 4 wives and slaves
>Buddhism
Ceasing to ever suffer sounds good
>Why is the vast majority of Europe Christian and not Norse/Roman/Celtic, for example?
A mixture of wanting access to the christian mediterranean wealth, forced conversions, and asshole pagan gods being unappealing to one who directly loves everybody with no need for blood and suffering
>why has Hinduism remained so strong as a religion?
Hinduism can absorb anything and still be Hinduism
>Jesus?
Avatar of Vishnu
>Buddha?
Avatar of Vishnu
>Atheist?
Still a legitimate path
>Jewish?
Still a legitimate path
>Zoroastrian?
Still a legitimate path
Good theological frameworks supporting them, large canons of texts etc.
Julian the Apostate was trying to fit Roman Paganism into a neo-platonist framework -- shame he died before it could be finalised.
>>531322
May be was support from goverments (at least do not prevent) and from firms owners of religions.
Support religion faith is fulltime job with philosophic topics, and should be did by professionals and paid.
Also better if a god is only one into religion or branch of religion, because schizophrenia bad.
>>531363
that hammer looks really inefficent and imbalanced.
>>531322
Organized religions had advantage over disorganized ones, and political powers tend to support organized religions as way to expand their own power.
>>531322
>Roman
But they are Roman. See: Catholicism.
The Greeks and Romans didn't actually believe in their pantheons, why would anyone today?
>Christianity
because it's the most plausible
>Islam
because it uses lots of the same things in the bible, to give it legitimacy, but they make it more rapey and araby to make it attractive to the foolish arabs who aren't christian
>buddhism
same reason people buy exercise videos.. it's just yoga and fruit smoothies
>hinduism
they poo in the streets. i don't think they really spend much time thinking about how retarded their religion is
>>531426
>The Greeks and Romans didn't actually believe in their pantheons, why would anyone today?
Wew lad
>>531441
They could always check Mt. Olympus
Christianity has interacted with greek, and western philosophy in general, from the start. Catholic theology has contributed to the rise of the scientific method and became the default mode of discourse.
It is by far the most plausible and workable form of religion. It prospers in societies and has a great intellectual tradition - unlike Protestantism, you will easily notice.
If you want to have a state religion, Catholicism is your best choice.
Hinduism is extremely flexible, it can pretty much adapt to anything
Christianity, Islam and Buddhism all allow themselves to be altered by the local population's beliefs in order to make conversions more likely. Buddhism allows ancestor worship in china despite it being literally pointless and christianity in it's more legitimate form adopts pagan behaviours such as saint veneration.
>try to tell my grandmother that I don't want to worship ancient dead legendary generals
>she tells me I have to do it because she'd consider it to be rude
Anyone else know these feels?
>>531322
People accommodate want's most benefit to them. Of course, this is not enclosed to just religion, but virtually everything in life for persons.
So, if you see a individual w/ a green hat and no shirt understand that he has a personal benefit supporting it, also his name's [spoiler]John Cena![/spoiler]
>>531463
>Catholicism
Catholicism is dead because bible is complete.
>>531485
Tradition is never complete. Our Church is not a dead entity, a relic, but a living Church that always receives new wisdom and philosophy.
>>531335
basically this
>>531430
>>Christianity
>because it's the most plausible
>>531430
Too perfect.
>>531335
>4 wives
>good
I only wonder why would anyone be so masochistic.
The most prevailing religions are the ones which demand the most personal sacrifice for in-group status, because sociologically they're the most insular. Just look at the staying power of the Amish.
>>531322
Christianity is true thats wh y.
>>531322
>christianity, islam, buddhism
they have universal message, that is they try to convert every human on earth. Meanwhile Norse/roman/celtic pagan are the religion of their respective communities.
>hinduism
HInduism told you to live according to your Dharma. In this sense everything is valid as >>531335 said and could be assimilated to general Hinduism philosophy and mythology.
Anyway, even if they don't try to proselytize, 1 billion loo people is alot m8.
Why would any religion be successful?
--Mind cannot truly perceive the true void-non existence. Close your eyes and try to imagine that you're dead. You can only imagine darkness. But how would darkness even be if there is neither light or you to perceive it.Religion comes and saves the day;afterlife.
--Giving meaning to human existence.
Human life has no meaning and each time we try to find it we are only met with an unforgiving universe oblivious to our own existence.
--Standing out,snowflakes are no longer a thing. There is guaranteed someone in the sky who will listen to ME,help ME and understand ME and during the times of slavery all of this was very appealing.
I could go on and on...
Religion is absolutely beautiful however. I've seen people smiling and pulling the gun away from their mouths because they had found God. With what heart would you approach these kinds of people and tell them the bane of their existence is false...
>>531395
>implying pagan religions among civilized people weren't organized
Not only that, but Constantine et co turned Christianity into an organized religion for precisely that purpose.
>>531322
There's always going to be a dominant religion. Existence is not particularly rational so there will be a series of explanations, and in every age an ethos. Christianity is superior because monotheism makes more sense and leads to a more peaceful society.
>>532510
so you admit existence is not practical so to speak, and yet ridicule stories and ANALOGIES that are meant pass on wisdom?
>>532570
I would've tied up. But I had finished taking a dump.
Also,when did I make fun of anything?
Because all three are ferociously evangelical and have been entwined with imperialism throughout their history
>>531485
>hey guys, bible was written by some people who lived up to circa 100 AD
>except the oldest known text are from III century
>christ died(canonically) in 33AD(reality is that we probably screwed up the date and it was something like 15 or 23 AD but, you know, he wasn't born in december either)
>it has to be true
>everything else is false
Even better.
Protestards use translations based on King's James Bible. The one that wasn't allowed by the pope because it contained around 400 errors. Further translation errors and errors in print(why do you think muslims, who really, really care about preserving the original form of Quran banned printing for so long?), some of which may have been intended. Some Protestard churches like mormons build upon this foundations by adding completely new books.
But edicts and tradition are complete blasphemy, phew, who would believe in such devilish schemes!
>>531322
We discussed this in another thread. https://desustorage.org/his/thread/356466/
>>532510
The most primal beliefs people had revolved around ancestor's worship. Sources of which are easy to understand.
Then it was an answer for questions people had - what is sun? Sun is deity of course!
Later it started filling certain philosophical void and achieved it better than any philosopher could - while some of the beliefs are hard to comprehend even for theologians(the concept of trinity being one but three entities at the same time) - gross majority of this philosophy is perfectly understandable for random mooks from the street.
>>532710
>Some Protestard churches like mormons
Mormons aren't protestants. They're a seperate religion. This tells me all I need to know about your credibility on theological matters.
>>532752
They grow of protestard ideals.
Let me guess, Wahhabi aren't muslims, muslims didn't do nothin'.
(that being said Shia pass as crypto-zoroastrians)
>>532759
>grow
grew out of*
>>531322
Christianity is the Truth and the Triune Godhead is real.
However, it is evident that the Holy Spirit is also at work in Islam and Buddhism, to a high degree.
>>532787
>it is evident that the Holy Spirit is also at work
For those of you who don't know, this is christfaggian for "I also happen to like"
>>532787
In Islam; this can be seen in Shiism, Alevism and Sufism. Who have an almost (!) Triune knowledge of the Godhead.
>>531322
>>531322
Its a very complicated topic but from my understanding all the religions you listed are certainly considered "major" religions today, fall into certain baskets (categories).
These baskets allowed them to rise in popularity, power and more importantly stay there. From my perspective the baskets are:
>Adoption by a those in political power, whether the "Church of England" or Ashoka making Buddhism the religion of India
>Ability to mesh with local religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) or conversely the need to eradicate all those who do not follow their religion (Islam and Christianity)
>Built in control systems that allow them to remain in power from a soceital level not just an individual one, wether it is the Caliphate in Islam or the caste system in Hinduism.
> A light of "hope" for those who are born in the lower tiers of society, such as "god" having a "plan" for the peasants, or the fact that you were born into a lower caste for actions in a past life and by acting pious in this one you will be closer to salvation in the next.
Let me know what I missed but I think those four really define the spectrum of power, salvation and control all "major" religions today have.
>>532736
Why was that towards me?I wasn't making a jab at organized religion. But,since I've got time to talk. Let's talk
Religion as I see it was due to our own inability to comprehend several physical phenomena. The first sacred entities were Earth,females,the Sun and the Moon. We observed that all life existed because those deities ALLOWED it.
Then man looked up and did not see God. He saw the Sun performing his scheduled circle around the earth(since at the time they thought the earth was the center of the universe)They started asking questions about their purpose,the feelings,the creation of the universe. They were unable to find a rational answer to those means and thus came a religion that was centered around thought and feelings. The very judicative system was there to console the feelings of slaves and to tone down the masters. It's not coincidence that mostly slaves and poor people were liable to go to Heaven and the (evil to their point of view) masters were going to HELL. Since the slaves couldnt extract vengeane on their masters on their own they needed DEUS. This allowed Christianity to spread and really set the bedrock for religion to be the most dominant institution of humanity. Wars were waged on both man and technology. Christianity ruled out Paganism and the religions of old. Christianity also was against any sort of technological advancements because they knew much like the Sun and the Moon their God would also fade if man was to explain to the world around him.
As it did,finding all these planets really threw a slap to reality. We were insignificant and none in the whole universe cares about us. The universe shall keep on expanding even if all of the human race would go extinct. God wasn't found there. ;Nothing was found out there.The western medicine started to take over. No such thing as belief was involved when taking the vaccine against the black plague. This lead to people losing interest in religion. Ultimately leading us to today.
>>531322
The Abrahamic religions held a lot of appeal for the common people. Remember that during the roman empire, society was strictly divided into classes. Patricians, Plebs and Slaves.
The very notion that every human was equal before God and that He loves us all uncondtionally was groundbreaking. The roman gods had to be appeased constantly to keep them from messing with normal people. God the Father loved us all as long as we obeyed the teachings of Jesus Christ, and even if we faltered there was always a chance for redemption.
Islam was sort of the same but the Arab tribes were addicted to earthly pleasures so Muhammad made muslim heaven into something that can only be described as a pleasure house. Muhammad was actually very clever when he created Islam. He appeased everyone in the region by incorpororating key components of neighboring cultures and religions into Islam. To appease Christians he made Jesus the second most important Prophet (after himself of course), to Jews he gave Moses an honored place as a Prophet of Allah. To the pleasure loving arab tribal leaders he created a heavenly paradise where there were rivers made of solid gold and you could eat good food and sleep with your wives for all eternity. Everyone gained something from it.
Buddhism is like Christianity but without the Heaven/Hell component. Jesus and Buddha were very similar in their teachings, and there is something about ascetic pacifism that moves a majority of people. To find inner peace and shut out the turmoils of this world appeals to many people who have it rough in the world.
The pagan religions were for the most part a cultural thing rather than something that was actually organised and centralized. They can be compared to the myths and legends of each individual people. But that's as far as it goes.
Christianity, Islam and Buddhism offered something more. They offered peace and rewards in this life and the next.
>>531322
Thank you op Just Seeing someone else out there who appreciates yuri Norstein makes my day
>>533217
It's just a goofy pic. It's not that its artistically interesting.
