Oldest Religion In The World

Religion goes back at least as far as human civilisations. 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is a primitive religion, which sprang up independently in many areas of the world, but in most countries has mainly been replaced by more formal religion.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.

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....

Further reading...

http://www.paganspace.net/forum/topics/the-oldest-religion-of-the?page=12&commentId=1342861%3AComment%3A9438434&x=1#1342861Comment9438434

Evidence of Black Africans in the Bible

Is the Bible a book by a white God for white people? Of course not. God is spirit and does not have "color" in our human and earthly sense. There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that people are excluded from God’s saving grace on the basis of ethnic origin or skin color.

http://www.gci.org/bible/africans

Religion Timelines

Religion Timeline. This post is under constant construction and links will be added as research permits.

Links to further articles:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/origtime.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_religion
http://cominganarchy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/timeline-of-world-religion3.jpg

Gurdwaras

The word 'Gurdwara' means Guru's home. It is the Sikh place of worship. Gurdwaras, or Sikh Temples, were built at important Sikh historical places in memory of events that had occurred there. It is not easy to name each and everyone. However, like all religions, Sikhism has some Gurdwaras that have more historical significance than others. Harmandir Sahib is the most famous and world known Gurdwara.

Harmandir Sahib is commonly called Darbar Sahib or Golden Temple. The Golden Temple name is given because it is covered in the gold plating. It is the most holy and chief shrine for the Sikhs. It was built by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Amritsar. It is built in the middle of a square tank called Sarovar. It has four doors, one in each direction, indicating it is open to all. Golden Temple is known world wide. Visitors from all over the world visit this Gurdwara.

There are also the following five Takhats meaning thrones which are of great significance in Sikhism :

1) Akal Takhat 2) Keshgarh Sahib 3) Damdama Sahib 4) Patna Sahib 5) Hazoor Sahib

Akal Takhat
The Akal Takhat is the oldest and the first Takhat of the Sikhs. It is inside the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar. It was built by Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji. The Akal Takhat is the political center or in other words the highest seat of justice and worldly activity of the Sikhs.

Keshgarh Sahib
Keshgarh Sahib is a very important Gurdwara at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. This is the place where Guru Gobind Singh Ji had started the Khalsa Order by creating Khalsa brotherhood on the Baisakhi of 1699 AD, explaining the Panj Pyaras and five K's.

Damdama Sahib
Damdama Sahib is located in Talwandi Sabo in Punjab. Guru Gobind Singh Ji stayed here for nearly a year and prepared the Guru Granth Sahib Ji by revising and recompiling scriptures and this revised version is the eternal Guru of the Sikhs..

Patna Sahib
Patna Sahib, also Known as Sri Harmander Sahib is a very important Gurdwara in Patna, Bihar. It is the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

Hazoor Sahib
Hazoor sahib is a very important Gurdwara in the City of Nanded in Maharashtra. Guru Gobind Singh Ji went for his heavenly abode here. It was here that he passed the permanent Guruship to Guru Granth Sahib Ji before his heavenly abode.

http://www.infoaboutsikhs.com/gurdwaras.htm

Oldest Temple in the World

Six miles from Urfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey, Klaus Schmidt has made one of the most startling archaeological discoveries of our time: massive carved stones about 11,000 years old, crafted and arranged by prehistoric people who had not yet developed metal tools or even pottery. The megaliths predate Stonehenge by some 6,000 years. The place is called Gobekli Tepe, and Schmidt, a German archaeologist who has been working here more than a decade, is convinced it's the site of the world's oldest temple.

Links to related articles:

http://www.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/09/worlds-oldest-temple-disc_n_142417.html

If religion was a candle

If religion was a candle that lights up the darkness in our lives, would we still need it when we entered into the daylight?

Vaisakhi 13th or 14th April?

Whilst I was growing up Vaisakhi was to my knowledge always celebrated on the 13th, (which corresponds to April 13 in the Gregorian calendar), however of late, the date appears to alternate between the 13th or the 14th. So why is this, one source tells me that this is because the Gurduwara's are going by the Sikh Calender known as Nanakshahi Calender. Apparently this was adopted in 1998 when it came into use.
So does this mean Sikh's should celebrate their own birthday's according to the Nanakshahi calendar? If they don't, wouldn't this be hypocritical. What was the need to adopt the Nanakshahi calendar now after so many years, surely this will only serve to split peoples views, most of the older generation won't want to change what the've been doing for a lifetime.

A Young Religion

Sikhism is the youngest of the World Religions, barely 500 years old. It was founded by Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in 1469 who laid the basic principles of Sikhism. It offered the people a simple Sikh religion teaching "Oneness of God", whose name is TRUTH. Nine Gurus followed him who all reinforced and added to what was taught by the first Guru. After which in 1708, the holy book of the Sikhs, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji was proclaimed to be the only Guru by the last Guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. This holy book embodies the philosophy and fundamentals of Sikhism. It is the only holy book of a major religion which was written and authenticated by its founders.

All the fundamentals of Sikhism emanate from the concept of love for God which follows the love of man. God is the Supreme being, Universal and all powerful. For a Sikh, all human beings are creatures of God and must be treated equally. One must work hard and share one's earnings with the less fortunate which had to be earned by righteous means. One must be always active in mind and body.

The 5 K's

Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the last Guru gave the Sikhs a distinct Uniform and appearance so that they were easily recognized. So, in 1699 on the day of Vasakhi April 13, he assembled his Sikhs and baptized five beloved who were brave and obedient to his orders and called this brotherhood - The Khalsa. Also he gave them a new surname "SINGH" (Lion) to be added to their first names. He gave them the five symbols and five basic prayers. These saints - soldiers were devoted to mankind. The women were given equal status with men as the new brotherhood had no distinctions of caste, creed, color or sex. The women were to add "KAUR" (Princess) to their names and were to be always protected.

The five symbols are necessary for the strength and unity of the religion and also for the value each had. All Sikhs were to have Kesh or unshorn hair, a Kanga or the comb to keep this hair neat and clean, Kaccha or the underwear worn as a symbol of agility and readiness for action, Kirpan or sword which is an emblem of courage and adventure to be used for defensive purposes and lastly, Kara or the Steel bracelet to remind the Sikh of his bond to the God.

The Golden Temple

The history of The Golden Temple reveals that at the invitation of Guru Arjan, Sant Mian Mir, a Muslim divine, laid the foundation of Hari Mandir, the temple of God. The shrine was purposely built on a lower level than the surrounding land so that the devotees has to step down to enter it, this symbolised the new faith which required even the lowest to go still lower, it's doors were on all sides and open to one and all at all times.