How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world’s most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!
(via Digg)
Comments
13 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.Anyone else shiver when they watched it spreading? That animation brings so much life to the metaphor of it being an outbreak of contagious idiocy. Damned religion.
Cool…
They miss some religions, maya, hitites, sumerian, vikings and nordic countries, ROME!!!, greece, Egypt, maoist (not the same as budishm), sintoism …
Anyway it is a good point to start with this animation, and also it could be great to show how the different religions borrow legends and ideas from the others, like sumerian-judaism-christianity
Chame,
They said they were only focusing on a few….. And I even had an excerpt of them saying they were only focusing on a few…..
I know I know…
Just wonder why they selected those, other civilizations last much more time than our contemporary.
Egyptians were here more that all those religions of the animation together, it is a arrogant point of view isnt it?
yeah schmoo…pretty soon athieism will be added to the list and we’ll get to shiver as we watch it grow also.
i love religious coversations, i just find the whole topic fascinating, i mean religion is, or was in most cases, such an important part of how people define themselves and helped to create the cultures all over the world. it has also helped to create the people living in those cultures, and in turn, present day people, whether they’re religious or not is irrelevant. when i look at this map all thats going through my head is- i wonder how they (the religions) influenced each other and what the people of the time were thinking and how they were affected by their religion. its kind of exciting.
I love religious conversations too. When I look at the map I wish there was a different color in between the religions, the brighter it is the more it signifies the death count resulting from the clash.
Humans seem born with religiosity – it is very powerful and it is endemic to humanity. They are also capable of incredible feats of reason and logic. How these two opposite traits have co-existed for thousands of years is beyond me.
I’d say humans are born with insecurity. Some deal with it by having a god that ‘will make everything work out in the end’, some deal with it by bullying those weaker than them, and some just live with it. Very few actually get over it if you look hard enough.
that’s what all no-talent people say.
I think you are correct Schmoo. It has to do with insecurity.
The best explanation I’ve heard for the rise of religion is that when man evolved and became self-aware, he also became keenly aware of his impending death. Death could happen at any moment – from predators and accidents. Or it arrived slowly and painfully, from starvation, disease, tooth decay, whatever.
Death was so palpable and so unpredictable that fear of it became debilitating. So man invented gods to comfort him, protect him, give him courage, and provide him with deliverance – when he died he didn’t really die, he just went somewhere else; nirvana, heaven, etc. All the better that he was convinced that his grieved loved ones have gone there – or will go there upon their demise.
In short, early humans could not have been functional without a way to cope with the fear of death. The most successful humans achieved more in their short lives in part because they feared death less. Over time, religiousity became an evolved center of the human brain. Just as emotions evolved so did religious feelings.
Barryman: Humour me, spell out what you’re trying to imply in both your comments and the reasoning behind it. I don’t want to be making assumptions.
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