Religion Family Tree

[Samantha Rinne]

So I found this online.

Not only is the spelling hilariously bad (Bhuddism? Judiasm? Lutherin?), but there are a number of false premises (Buddhism came from Hinduism as a result of a prince opting out of the system, that is it was directly caused by conditions of Hinduism's caste system; I've read some articles that say there is no evidence that Islam actually is inspired by either Christianity or Judaism, but rather Muhammad lived in a strongly ecumenical trade town and basically plagiarized alot; Protestantism is not a subset of Roman Catholicism but a an offshoot, so it goes to the side not below; the most ancient religion was either animism or pantheism), and there are gaps (where is Sikhism? Jainism? Taoism? Confucianism? Polynesian religions? African religions? South American religions? Germanic faiths?) making it a dumpster fire.

So I went to this:

But again, they try to tell us that Islam is a direct descendent of Judaism and Christianity (only by its own claim, they get some things wrong like Jesus's mother being Moses and Aaron's sister, a sure sign that the religion was a borrowed text), that Buddhism isn't influenced by Hinduism (again, no caste system, no prince Siddharta going to war), and they oversimplify Christianity (Protestantism is not a descendant of Catholicism but a revolt against it). Also they clutter up the tree with a number of things that are actually magic systems rather than religion, such as voodoo, santeria, and kabbala.

Anyone else wanna do some artwork? I'll probably submit my version adapted from the second, but let's have some arts. Preferably better than the first one. Bhuddism.

 

[Rival]

Why is Kemetic classed as Semitic? Egypt is clearly in Africa and Kemeticism is an African faith.

 

[sun rise]

Without getting into a lot of that colored chart, it shows "sufism" as descending from Islam and Baha'i as having been influenced by sufism. That is not my understanding.

I'm sure I'd disagree with other elements as well if I knew more about them.

 

[Samantha Rinne]

I honestly could not tell you. The chart above has some sort of Finnish to Baltic movement which begs the question of why these geographical regions aren't better organized by location.

Like Northern Europe/Southern Eurasia/Near East/Africa/Asia/Australia or something.

I got through the planning stage of my chart and about one or two in religions, really just enough to create a template when I was like "Holy crap, this is probably going to take me at least a month! I'll have to research each religion, then cross-reference what they say about their religion with what their detractors say and what history says, then investigate the various influences of other religions. And then I have to somehow squeeze this stuff on the page without overlap or other serious flaws. Uhhhh let's not do this..."

I'm used to long projects but freehanding this and planning it out spatially on the computer are two entirely different things. I'm kinda better at writing than art anyway. So ummm, anyone who wants to try, I organized by general belief set (not including panentheism, deism, and the like except under Other). The general idea is that we start with geographical location and type and kinda organize it better from the start. But I noticed in the Native American section, it actually had pantheism and went backwards (so to speak) to animism. At that point, I just threw up my hands.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

I think you proved that religion is a mess.

 

[Aupmanyav]

As in all cooking you need many ingredients, so are the religions. All four 'Dharmic' religions arose from a mix of Indian beliefs and Vedic religion (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism).

 

[Mock Turtle]

There was an update to the second diagram, not that I would know if it was any more accurate.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I have problems with these schemes. I do not think Hinduism had inputs from Mesopotamia. We just do not know about Indus Valley beliefs except for the horned God and images that may have been Mother Goddesses. And floods existed even in Aryan literature, that too a flood by ice (Yima).

 

[SpentaMaynu]

Why is Kemetic classed as Semitic? Egypt is clearly in Africa and Kemeticism is an African faith.

Perhaps because Egypt was always heavily influenced by what happened in the Middle East? I would agree that, geographically, Kemeticism is an African faith as you say. But then I also heard some Africans denying Egypt as authentic African.

Without getting into a lot of that colored chart, it shows "sufism" as descending from Islam and Baha'i as having been influenced by sufism. That is not my understanding.

I'm sure I'd disagree with other elements as well if I knew more about them.

I would further argue that Sufism should not be on the chart at all, together with things like Kabbalah. These are not separate religions or even separate systems in many instances. Sufism is Islam, even if some Muslims does not practice it and I think more or less the same can be said of Kabbalah. As for Baha'i, I would rather say it has been influenced by Shia Islam (which is the same as saying they have been influenced by Sufism to an extend as most Sufis are historically Shia...).

I do not think Hinduism had inputs from Mesopotamia.

Perhaps by 'Mesopotamia' they mean Zoroastrianism? Do you think Zoroastrianism could have had some influence on Hinduism? I haven't read enough on this topic, but there is some scholars who think that, especially when looking at terms such as Devas and Asuras

 

[Aupmanyav]

Perhaps by 'Mesopotamia' they mean Zoroastrianism? Do you think Zoroastrianism could have had some influence on Hinduism? I haven't read enough on this topic, but there is some scholars who think that, especially when looking at terms such as Devas and Asuras

I do not think so. Sure, the Zoroastrian Gathas and Vedas are of the same people (Indo-Iranian Aryans), same language, same myths (that is why Devas and Asuras). Zoroaster, in his new dispensation, made Devas as villains, but Indian Aryans continued to use both the words for Gods and Goddesses. Zoroaster was an Athravan (the oldest sage in Hinduism, Atharvan, who brought the Fire-God to people as the myths say, Vedas mention him as the Father - AtharvaVeda).

Aryans were in in Central Asia and Afghanistan. But those who migrated to India never looked back and there was meager contact. There is no mention of Zoroaster or Zoroastrianism in Hindu scriptures. The Persians did control areas around Indus in times of Darius I (522 - 486 BCE), but these were outliers to Hinduism. By that time Hinduism had taken a solid shape.

 

[Augustus]

Why is Kemetic classed as Semitic? Egypt is clearly in Africa and Kemeticism is an African faith.

How would you classify it in regards to being African versus Southern Mediterranean?

 

[Rival]

How would you classify it in regards to being African versus Southern Mediterranean?

I'm thinking that because it's 1) in Africa and 2) a non-Indo European faith and 3) uses an African language, as well as having Gods imported from Nubia etc.

It just seems to be its own thing.