When did the religion start?

Answer 1

When God created the world and humans came in, people started to belive in different things and different theories ( Examples: Christian, Catholic, etc ).

Answer:

One thing that researchers agree upon is that mankind has always believed in a Higher Power. Archaeology has shown that no ancient society ever existed that did not believe in the supernatural.
Based upon a massive worldwide study of the most ancient inscriptions and the earliest levels of civilization, Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt (in his twelve-volume Der Ursprung Der Gottesidee) concluded that the original belief was monotheistic. It was a simple belief in the Creator (Sky-Father) with no imagery of any kind. It gave way relatively quickly to polytheism and idolatry, but its traces could still be seen by the careful researcher, just as (for example) Proto-Indo European has left indelible marks within the later languages. Other traditions also are traceable worldwide, such as the religious significance of the number seven, and the immortality of the soul.

Sources: Albright, "From the Stone Age," p.170; and J.A. Wilson, "The Culture of ancient Egypt," p.129.
Also Baron, "A Social and Religious History," vol. I, p.44 and 311.
Also James Meek, "Hebrew Origins," p.188, quoting Langdon, Lagrange and John Ross.
Also Martin Nilsson, Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaften, 2nd ed., p.61, 141, 220 and 394.

Answer 2

The following is an attempt to reconcile and combine all previous contributions into a cohesive and non-contradictory response.

There is no clear agreement on when religions began. Many say that it began with Adam and Eve, the first man and woman by Judeo-Christian-Islamic teaching. Some say that it began even before then. What it boils down to is what the individual believes.

The fact is that there is no clear evidence to link religious thought with any date. What is generally accepted is that as long as there have been humans, there has been some system or sort of religious belief. Archaeological evidence seems to support this.

It is not just fact or faith in history or prehistory. Modern evidence supports this as well. It has been demonstrated with the contributions to this question. In the face of the unanswerable, modern man seeks to support answers with religion. Consider that science itself is a form of religious thought. Science fits the definition of religion as well as any known current or past religion. Religion thinking is composed of three elements. The first element is "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe." Science does this. The religion of science is in fact comprised of a set of beliefs that have developed over the past one to two thousand years. The roots of science perhaps go back much further than that. Some of the earliest forms of scientific thought are traced back to Socrates and Aristotle. Consider that the word "atom" finds its roots in ancient Greek philosophy.

The second element of religious thought involves "devotional and ritual observances." Science does this also. Consider scientific method, the process by which any "new" knowledge can be collectively accepted as being factual and reality based. For this to happen, the following must occur (raise your hand if this sounds familiar): observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and theory. One cannot jump from step one to from observation to theory without first passing through the second and third hoop. One set of accepted rituals for getting from point A to point B in the string of scientific method is as follows:

1. Develop a question
2. Gather information
3. Develop an hypothesis
4. Experimentation
5. Data analysis
6. Interpretation or conclusions
7. Publish findings
8. Independent experimentation (with repeated results)

The third element of religion is that it is bound by "a moral code" that directs or controls "the conduct of human affairs." Nothing could be more internationally true for science, scientific thinking, and scientists themselves. Nearly every nation of the world has their own internationally recognized National Academy of Science. Every school of scientific thought has a plethora of organizations behind, beneath, and over it to direct and control the forwarding of its particular agenda. Every museum, every university, every "think tank" has some governing body that directs all discussion of Minutia Academia Scientifica. The Vatican itself can only dream of having such a lock on the direction of dogma and doctrine within its own organization.

One final element of religion is that starting dates are difficult (impossible in most cases) to pin down. Few churches can do what organizations like the Church of Scientology can do (and I do not propose that science and Scientology are synonymous-I offer only an example here), which was proposed (officially) with the publication of Diantetics in May 1950, and the founding of the church in 1954. Few other organized religions can nail down their founding date with any such degree of accuracy. Most can at best give ballpark estimates ranging from a few hundred to several thousand years. Much like science, they have developed over time. Much like science, they were not invented. Much like science, followers are taught by those who came before. Much like science, religion (not spirituality which is the seed of religion) is a convention of Man. Much like science, religion can be used for good or evil, it is wholly dependent upon the hand that wields it.

Religion, science, what ever term is used to label it, any attempt to reconcile Man with the universe of which he is part, is likely as old as Man himself.

Any use of the term "Man" is intended to be solely generic and by no means should it be inferred to be gender discriminatory.

"Elements of religion, per a definition of "Religion."