What was the first religion?

I would find another book. Gnosticism has been dated back as early as 100BCE, although there are probably forms of syncretic religions that predate that and which might be called gnostic. Animism, as stated in an earlier response, was almost certainly the first religion, and predated anything else by many millennia. Lash

i don't know

i aint know is there any ancient religion which co-relates all religion, in my study i seen tht there existed 2 religions existed anciently known as sumeriens and sanathana dharma{hinduism}, all the abrahamic religions gnosis etc are all in sumerienism evidenses show sumeriens existed about a 2500 bc ago religions like budhism sikhism etc came from the sanathana dharma evidences show hinduism existed before 4000 bc i am sure tht these two religions is the parental religions for all the religions we see today,u can see that all the ideas of religions is included in these religions

Identifying the first religion is difficult at best. It was undoubtedly some form of animism. Animism is the worship of nature spirits and far predates any of the established religions that exist today. Roughly 50,000 years ago the ancestor population of today's modern humans set out on the journey out of Africa that would populate the world. They most likely brought with them an early form of religion. The first religious symbols that we have any record of are from the Lake Mungo region in Australia. These symbols related to an early form of animism. Today's religions evolved at a much later date.

the fact is, most religions are older than Wicca. Wicca isn't even a century old. it probably only started around 1940s, then came to public attention following the repeal of the Witchcraft act in 1951. it was founded by Gerald Gardner, and before him didn't exist. so it's a very young religion. the first religion was probably some form of Pantheism, and not one that exists today in the same form, although many of the ideas may be similar.

Judaism is 5,000 years old so it predates the Gnostics by 3,000 years. But doesn't anyone remember the story of Adam and Eve. Do you suppose that they just forgot about Hashem(Their Maker) when they were kicked out of Eden? What about all of the Pagan religions that preceded Monotheism (Judaism)? They predate all of the known religions of today. I mean Wicca is really new compared to Muslim, Judaism, and christianity. Gnostic was an early christian type religion, so it could not be older than 1800 years or so. The Babylonians were a well known pagan religion that were still going strong at the time of the Jews. There were also the Ancient Roman and Greek beliefs in gods and goddesses. There were also the Pagan Egyptians, Phoenicians, Sumerians, and Amorites, along with others. So, The Gnostics were not the first religion by far. All of these religions were around thousands of years before. There were probably many that we do not know the name of and of course there are the Aztecs and folks like that. Not to mention all of the peoples that live in the forests of the Amazon and South America that have little contact with other people. Who knows how far back they date. Shalom~Adoniah

Gnosticism, Wicca, Pagan…whatever be the name, these names were all coined at later dates with the progress of human civilization. So its kind of difficult to pinpoint any religion which can be deemed to be the first. What my understanding says however, is that the very first religion was definitely nature worship, whatever be its name. it was but natural for the early hunter gatherers to fear and revere nature…as they became settled farmers, their possessions increased and also their fear of losing those possessions to natural calamities. Thus increased the worship of nature, which later become various organized religions.

The first religion would have been that of the Sumerians.

Yes I agree that the earlier religions would assign spirits to the animals, trees and even rocks and rivers. These natural objects would control a person's life as did the moon and sun, and the stars. Men would try to control things as if they could. There could also be the concept of a creator god. The seems to be where the Abrahamic monotheistic go seems to have come from and the minor natural spirits fell into disfavour. Religious studies is an interesting pastime to see what men believe thoughout the centuries.

Man probably first worshiped the sun. I'm pretty sure all cultures first worshiped a sun deity. The first religion probably involved a number of things like fertility, crops, animal migration, changing of the seasons, etc. All things important to first man. When you look at cave paintings you always see drawing of animals. Animals probably were revered because they gave man life. Early man had a deep understanding of the stars and the sun because it helped track the seasons. The sun was also mystical because they knew it gave life. Personally I have done a lot of research about early religion but have forgotten most of it. Wicca is not a real religion. It is a feminist abomination of early paganism. I think people, women in particular, want to romanticize early paganism as some kind pro-feminist religion. They don't want accept the roles given to them by Christianity. They want to latch on to a religion more care free and exempt from following rules. There were many things in early paganism that coincides with Christianity and even Islam. For example, women were expected to be chaste before marriage. Marriages were arranged by families. This is was not always the case but most of the time it happened this way.

Humanity is my first religion. I like to be human first. Due to that I only follow all human values. I like to be human first then I follow any religion.

Well i dont know about this gnostic and wiccan.i just know that very first religion in this world was humanity. i dont believe any religion i just know one thing that is if we are kind, humble and lovable then we dont need any religion to follow god. happy mylotting.

Polytheism came before most others i think. cause if you go back to the egyptains they had like 13 or 14 gods and goddesses.