What is considered the oldest religion? Why are the current religions driven by fear?

Gnihton: What is considered the oldest religion? Why are the current religions driven by fear?
I think that most religions these days use the fear tactic to gain followers…do you agree or disagree?
Crush, I do believe that they try to use good points to bring people in but I do personally believe that hell is the major control factor. It is the fear of hell that keeps people rooted in their religion.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Tim
Death taboo and ancestor worship is believed to the the beginnings of religion.

Worship of a mother goddess/fertility is also prominent in the earliest works of art.

Persian _Zoroastrianism_ is the first of the “revealed” religions. It’s the oldest of what we think of as a “religion,” and was very influential on abrahamic religions (judaism, etc) and related to the early Vedics, the beginnings of Hinduism. It’s still practiced by the Parsis. When Zarathustra actually existed and when the religion started is uncertain… the texts (Zend-Avista) date to before 1200 BC.

As far as the role of “fear”, fear of death was certainly part in the beginnings. I do not think “most religions” user fear tactics to gain followers. I’m an atheist, but I admit that the role religion has played in the history of society is complex.

Answer by Crush
Unlike you I think they try to fool people by showing the good parts of their religion. Among the well known religions I think the oldest one is Hinduism, but I’m not sure, maybe Taoism.

Answer by taxman
As time progresses ministers find that their conteporaries are not the gullible losers of the Ancient Civilizations. Humans challenge many things from the scientefic discoveries to the reason cheese smells so appetizing. As Nietsche said GOD IS DEAD. Once we do not believe in him his is no longer a fragment of our mind. But god is not dead. There are still those who will now question his existence yet the question the reason that atheists are what they are. God is ill. He is nearly dead. The few who desire to save him have nothing to do but tempt others via fear. The question is not wheather they are using fear in this situation, the question is.. is this fear neccessary. Might we be in a different situation once god has left us. If you are imagining 2012 thats not what im saying. The fear of god drives many away from evil. Yet it also tempts some to kill. What will the world be like if we no longer have a reason for living. To live a good life and be sent into the afterlife is the goal of many. Once the goal has been let go, is there point in life?

Answer by Alag N
Hinduism.

It is the oldest religion in the world. Documented, and still being followed.

It survives very well since it is second nature to all of its followers. They dont need to follow anything to follow Hinduism, since it is all encompassing.

I agree that these days fear tactics are used by some religions that fear their own extinction and try to hold on to their motley vestiges. Fear is the only means through which the leaders of some of these religions can draw attention to themselves, instil favourable sense in its patrons, and huddle them together so that they can all sponsor each other and survive. When survival is threatened, fear comes into play.

Answer by RatZ
Fear is a powerful motivator. It works. See also, the Republican Party.

Answer by Surendra Nath D
But the religions, only in name, are most afraid of the fearlessness itself. Their support and life itself is the ‘fear’ in the hearts of men. Fear itself is their food and life. The fearlessness is the end of their life. The fear in men has been exploited a good deal, and in this exploitation religions have not been far behind; perhaps they have been foremost. With the support of fear the supernatural beings exist; with the support of fear does also the god of religions. The supernaturals, supported by fear, have merely threatened men but, even so, this has never been more than a game for their pleasure. But the fear supported God, has killed the man outright. His game has been very costly. Life has got entangled in the nets of fear, and how could pleasure be there where there was fear and fear alone? How could love be there? How could peace be there? How could truth be there? Pleasure is the offshoot of fearlessness. Fear is death.

Answer by Ron
Depends on what you mean by religion? Organized religion, belief in a supreme being, belief in a life after death, etc. Anthropologists have found ancient remains of pre-historic man where their deads were buried with what is believe to be things for them after death. Obvious some sort of religious ceremony and beliefs although we don’t know the details of their religion.

I would disagree with your assertion that most religions use fear tactic to gain followers. I believe it is one of the means used, but there are those who use the carrot instead of the stick. Having worked with the elderly, my personal experience is that they are attracted or hold to it because of the belief that there is a better world after this one – a paradise and not the fear of purgatory.

Fear can only be a motivation for just so long before a person becomes apathetic or fatalistic. Children can be controlled by fear, but to hold the conscience of a thinking adult, you need more than fear – you need validation.