TITLE:
The Religious Evolution Theory: The Parallel Religious Evolutions in the Middle East and India
AUTHORS:
Dingyu Chung
KEYWORDS:
Religious Evolution Theory, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Religious Pluralism
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.1,
January
26,
2021
ABSTRACT: This paper proposes the religious evolution by
natural selection adapting to civilizational shifts from technological
revolutions, and survival of the fittest. For an example, the parallel
religious evolutions by natural selection in the Middle East (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and India (Brahmanism,
Buddhism, and Hinduism) are through the adaptations to the civilizational
shifts from technological revolutions in terms of the Bronze Age, the Iron Age,
and the Advanced Iron Age. The civilizational shift from tribal nations with
national kings and polytheism during the Bronze Age to a mega empire with one
centralized emperor and deity during the Iron Age produces the parallel religious evolutions from theocratic polytheistic
Pre-Deuteronomic Judaism to theocratic monotheistic Judaism in the Middle East and from theocratic
polytheistic Vedism to theocratic monotheistic Brahmanism in India. The
civilizational shift for the rise of ordinary
people during the Advanced Iron Age produces the parallel religious evolutions
from theocratic monotheistic Judaism to spiritual monotheistic Christianity in
the Middle East and from theocratic monotheistic Brahmanism to spiritual
monotheistic Buddhism in India. The absorption of Christianity by modified
Judaism resulted in Islam to dominate the Middle East, and in parallel, the
absorption of Buddhism by Brahmanism resulted in Hinduism to dominate India. As a result, Pre-Deuteronomic Judaism-Judaism-Christianity-Islam in the Middle East is parallel
to Vedism-Brahmanism-Buddhism-Hinduism in India. In conclusion, the
parallel religious evolutions by natural selection in the Middle East and India
are through the adaptations to the civilizational shifts from the technological
revolutions. The religious evolution theory is the foundation of religious
pluralism as the biological evolution theory is the foundation of biological
multi-species. The religion in the coming Intelligence Age is the religious
evolution theory which explains the relations among religions, and maintains
the original religions and their texts.