8 Oldest Monotheistic Religions in The World

There is no doubt about it: religion is old. It’s so old, in fact, there is evidence that people had some type of religious faith as far back as 50,000 years ago. From what we know, most of the early religions were based on a number of gods, which is called polytheistic. These days, however, most religions are monotheistic, which means followers believe in one god.

There are many religious sects out there, and it would be impossible to list them all. However, the big question that we are going to answer today is this: What is the oldest monotheistic religion? We will certainly fill you in, but before we get to the oldest monotheistic religion, there are a few more you should know about, including these:

8. Rastafari

Date:  1930
Worship Texts:  The Holy Piby
Symbol: Lion of Judah and marijuana
Deity: God, (Jah) and Jesus

Rastafari photo source: Wikimedia Commons

Rastafari is one of the most misunderstood religions in the world. The religion, which began in the 1930s, was started in Jamaica, and is associated with dreadlocks, marijuana smoking, and chanting.

However, all of these things are symbolic, and followers of the religion, which are close to 1,000,000 people, also believe that Haile Selassie, the former Ethiopian emperor, is the Second Coming of Christ. You will often see the Ethiopian flag displayed proudly by Rastafarians.

Rastafarians keep their hair long because of a verse in the Bible from Leviticus, and smoke marijuana as a symbolic gesture. They typically call the plant “holy herb” or “wisdom weed.”

Additionally, Rastafarians are very strict with their diets. They do not eat processed food, and many are vegetarians. Those who eat meat generally only eat fish, and they do not drink milk, eat salt, or drink alcohol.


7. Caodaism

Date:  1926
Worship Texts:  Kinh Thiên Đạo Và Thế Đạo
Symbol: The Divine Eye
Deity: God the Father, (Cao Dai)

Caodaism photo source: Wikimedia Commons

Caodaism is a religion that was founded in Vietnam in Tay Ninh in 1926. Followers of Caodaism worship God, and refer to Him as Cao Dai. They also call him the “Highest Power” and “Highest Lord.”

The symbol of Caodaism is The Divine Eye, which they believe to be the left eye of God.

Like other religions, followers of Caodaism are highly focused on prayer. They also honor their ancestors, live non-violent lives in all senses of the word, and are vegetarians.

The Vietnamese government estimates that there are about 4.4 million followers of Caodaism, but other estimates put it close to the 6.6 million range. Most of the followers are Vietnamese, though the religion is spreading into Europe, North America, and Australia.


6. Babism

Date:  1844
Worship Texts:  Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’ and Persian Bayán
Symbol: Pentagram
Deity: God

Babism photo source: pinimg.com

Babism is an offshoot of the Abrahamic religions, which can be traced back to the teachings of the Biblical figure, Abraham. So, like Christianity, Judaism, and other religions, those who worship the God of the Israelites, Babists have similar beliefs.

Babism is a very small religion with only a couple of thousands of followers. Most of them live in Iran.

The religion was founded by a man named Ali Muhammad Shirazi, and his tile was Bab, which means “gate.” Followers of this religion also believe that Bab was an incarnation of John the Baptist, who, according to the Bible, was the cousin of Jesus.


5. Sikhism

Date:  Around 1526 AD
Worship Texts:  The Guru Granth Sahib
Symbol: Khanda
Deity: Waheguru

Sikhism photo source: ytimg.com

Sikhism can be traced back to the 16th century. It was founded by Guru Nanak in the Punjab area of modern day India and Pakistan. Though it started small, with only nine followers, today, Sikhism has more than 20 million people who call themselves Sikhs.

Most Sikhs live in India, though there are also almost 400,000 in the UK and several thousand in the United States.

Sikhs believe in a single God, whom they believe protects and guides them. There is also a belief that everyone is equal in God’s eyes.

Though Sikhs have rituals, they believe that people should prove their goodness with their actions instead of their ritual. Themes of honesty, hard work, generosity, and servitude are all important to Sikhs.


4. Islam

Date:  Around 600 AD
Worship Texts:  The Qur’an
Symbol: Star and Crescent
Deity: God (Allah)

Islam photo source: pixabay.com

Islam is currently the second largest religion in the world and it’s the fastest growing religion on Earth.

This ancient religion can be traced back to Judaism — just like Christianity — and all three religions have similarities. Followers of Islam, called Muslims, view the words of the Qur’an, their main religious text, as the actual words of God.

There are two main types of Muslims, Shia and Sunni, and they don’t often see eye to eye. This isn’t, however, due to major religious differences. Instead, it’s due to political differences. Basically, you can trace this divide all the way back to Muhammad. When he died in 632, there were differences between two different groups about who would take his place as the profit.


3. Christianity

Date:  1st Century AD
Worship Texts:  Bible
Symbol: Cross
Deity: God, Jesus Christ

Christianity photo source: tqn.com

Though it’s not the oldest religion, Christians make up a whopping 33% of the world’s population. Christians can trace their belief system to the first century, and its belief systems are based on other religions that were already in existence.

Early Christians were often prosecuted for their beliefs, as the Romans, who ran the show during that time, were pagans.

Today, more than 2.2 billion people call themselves Christians, and it is the largest religious group in the world. It is just getting bigger, too. From 2010 to 2015, tens of millions of people began following the Christian religion, most of them coming from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.


2. Judaism

Date:  9,000 BC to 5,000 BC
Worship Texts:  Jewish Bible, Torah, Siddur
Symbol: Star of David
Deity: God (YHWH, Yahweh)

Judaism photo source: pixabay.com

Many people believe that Judaism is the oldest religion, but Zoroastrianism dates back further. Judaism dates back to the time of the Old Testament, which dates back to at least 4,000 to 5,000 years, based on geological evidence from the Great Flood. It’s likely much older than that, though.

Both Christianity and Islam are off shoots of Judaism, but the Jewish religion was there first.

Today, there are approximately 14 million Jewish people out there, with most living in the United States and Israel.


1. Zoroastrianism

Date:  10,000 BC to 7,000 BC
Worship Texts:  The Avesta, Yasna
Symbol: Altar (fire)
Deity: Ahura Mazda

Zoroastrianism photo source: wikipedia

The oldest monotheistic religion is called Zoroastrianism because evidence of its practice dates back to 10,000 – 7,000 BC. However, researchers can’t agree on some of the dating of the ancient artefacts of Zoroastrianism that have been found.

Many believe that Zoroastrians worship fire, but that isn’t true. They worship a god called Ahura Mazda, and believe that fire represents the god’s light and wisdom.

What’s so interesting about Zoroastrianism is that it was quite an influence on the Abrahamic religions, and it was the official religion of several areas of Persia until the 7th century AD when the Muslims invaded.

Zoroastrianism is still followed by about 200,000 people, today, most of whom live in Iraq, Iran, and India.

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There are 4 comments

  1. Varsha Gowda Indian |

    Where is Hinduism? Our sanathana dharma. It is the oldest religion in the world. It has no record of origin.

    Reply
  2. The Vedas are monotheistic when correctly understood and are as old as time. The other religions come from misunderstandings of the Vedas. Consider the invocation to Īśopaniṣad, for example:

    “The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.”

    (oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
    pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
    pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
    pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate)

    Reply
  3. Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism is the oldest religion) it is the oldest monotheistic theology , it is oldest polytheistic theology, it is oldest athestic theology, it has everything in it ..Hinduism Is the Oldest One.. its holy scripture RigVedh is the oldest religious scripture in the world… dated 21000BCE

    Reply

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