Who started the religion of Sikhism and Buddhism and judaism?

Answer 1

JudaismMany regard the founder of Judaism to be Abraham, whom they consider to have lived before 2000 BCE. Others may regard the true founder of Judaism to be Moses, who is traditionally considered to have lived around 1400 BCE.

However, many scholars regard the stories of Abraham and Moses as creations of the first millennium BCE. They point out that The Bible also tells us that the people of Israel (the northern kingdom) were, throughout its history, polytheistic in their religious beliefs. Even in the south, in Judah, the people worshipped many gods until at least the time of King Hezekia (729-686 BCE), who made the first real attempt, in historic times, to impose a monotheistic religion. However, Hezekiah's son allowed Judah to revert to polytheism. On this evidence, Judaism, as we know it, did not yet exist in Judah.

We now know that much of what we know as the Hebrew Bible was written by the 'Deuteronomist' source during the reign of King Josiah ( about 640-609 BCE. From the time of Josiah, a monotheistic religion seems to have become dominant among the Jews. The role of Josiah in finally enforcing a monotheistic religion with its own canon of literature, make him arguably the real founder of Judaism as we know it - in the 7th century BCE.

IslamIslam is known to have been founded by the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century CE. HinduismThe earliest form of Hinduism evolved in the proto-Indo-Iranian culture of southern Russia over 2000 BCE. The Brahmins migrated from this area into the Indus Valley, from which the religion gradually spread through India and to south-eastern Asia. There is no known founder of Hinduism. BuddhismBuddhism was founded by Siddharta Gautama (c. 563-483 BCE), who became the Buddha.

Second View: Seven Sages Founded Hinduism

Hinduism was founded by an institution of Seven Sages called Saptarishis. Just as we have Pope for Christianity today, Hinduism, from the beginning, had an institution of seven sages who were the patriarchs of the Vedic religion. They very strictly guarded the Vedic body of knowledge, and the copy of the Vedas available to them was considered to be the final copy. They were considered as God's manifestation on earth, and their word was the final authority in religious matters.

Any changes to the Vedas were needed to be approved by this elite group of sages. If the reasons were justified, they approved the changes and incorporated them into the Vedas. Otherwise, they rejected it and kept the Vedas intact without any contamination. From what appears, they were extremely strict about changes to the Vedas. Even to this day of Hinduism, a word in Veda is normally considered as the final authority to the literal T. And this faith in Vedas was built upon a tradition where the Vedas were very strictly and jealously guarded from any changes whatsoever, unless the change really justified it. Some super human justification was required to have them changed. Any changes, to the extent possible, were always added as appendages rather than their being incorporated into the Vedas. So we have Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads as appendages to the Vedas. As more and more philosophy developed, all of them got incorporated into this body as appendages.

It is this institution of seven sages that expended large amount of effort over thousands of years in unifying a large number of traditions from across continents and civilizations into one universal religion of Hinduism that we see today. The Hindu trinity, the Hindu divine hierarchy, the Hindu festivals, and everything else that we see today was formulated by them. It is they who declared Ram and Krishna to be the incarnations of Vishnu. It is they who inserted Purusha Sukta, Narayana Sukta, and Sri Sukta into the Vedas.

The names of the SaptaRishis carried over from one generation to the next. For example, if Kasyap dies, his son would take on the name of Kasyap and get inducted into the SaptaRishis. Once in a while, for some reason, like one of the seven rishis dying without having any children, the names of the one or more of the rishis changed, giving us a different set of SaptaRishis.

The religion got so excessively dependent on these sages that they started being considered as the representatives of the creator on earth. This slowly led to their deification and they started being mythicized. They were declared as the mind born sons of Brahma. Subsequently, they were equated with the most evolved light beings in the creation and the guardians of divine laws. Further deification of their attributes lead to the addition of more and more myths and halo around them. This sort of excessive mythicization finally lead to the relegation of this institution from the purview of the real world into the realm of mythology.

This institution got destroyed at the time of the three hundred year severe drought of 2200 BC. At that time, most of the Indians, devastated by the drought, left India for foreign shores, especially to European lands. Because of the severe suffering that people underwent because of the drought, people lost faith in a useless God who did not answer their prayers, leading to the rise of atheistic cults on the subcontinent. The institution of seven sages got destroyed in this religious upheaval, as a result of which, the origins of Hinduism have once and for all become lost in the dungeons of time.

(excerpts from book "19000 Years of World History")

Answer 2

i think that the old people who came to this world before us , i think they have started those religions. well i think that i don't know what you think is right or wrong i just gave my opinion

Answer 3

For Judaism: According to tradition, Abraham (18th century BCE) founded Judaism, and Moses later received the Torah from God.(See also: Timeline of Jewish history)

Abraham, tenth-generation descendant of Noah, of Hebrew lineage, was the son of Terah, uncle of Lot, father of Isaac, grandfather of Jacob, and ancestor of the Israelites. His story is in Genesis ch.11 (end), through ch.25. Jewish tradition states that he was the first to teach belief in One God; and it is in his merit that Jews continue to exist (Genesis 18:19, and ch.17).

Abraham came from ancestry that had been aware of God a couple of centuries earlier but had afterwards slipped into idolatry (Joshua 24:2). (See: How did polytheism start.)

By the time of Abraham, the area where he lived was full of pagan cults; they were polytheistic, worshiping multiple deities. Abraham became the first to advance the idea of ethical monotheism: the worship of One God, and the appropriate ethical code of conduct.

Nimrod, the idolatrous tyrant, had brought Abraham's father (Terah) from the Semitic ancestral seat near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates, and instated him in a position of power in his army in the royal Babylonian city of Ur, where Abraham was born. Nimrod persecuted any who would question his idolatrous cult.

The Kuzari (Rabbi Judah HaLevi, 1075-1141) states that Abraham was gifted with high intelligence; and, as Maimonides (1135-1204) describes, Abraham didn't blindly accept the ubiquitous idolatry. The whole populace had been duped, but the young Abraham contemplated the matter relentlessly, finally arriving at the conclusion that there is One God and that this should be taught to others as well. This is what is meant by his "calling out in the name of the Lord" (Genesis ch.12).

As a young man, he remonstrated with passersby in public, demonstrating to them the falsehood of their idols; and our tradition tells how he was threatened and endangered by Nimrod.
Subsequently, Terah relocated to Harran; and it is here that Abraham began to develop a circle of disciples (Rashi commentary, on Genesis 12:5).

Later, God told Abraham in prophecy to move to the Holy Land, which is where Abraham raised his family.
He continued his contemplations, eventually arriving at the attitudes and forms of behavior which God later incorporated into the Torah given to Moses. (See: Thirteen basic Jewish beliefs)

Abraham became the greatest thinker of all time. His originality, perseverance, strength of conviction, and influence, cannot be overestimated.

Abraham, with God's help, trounced the supremacy of the evil Nimrod.

He received God's promise of inheriting the Holy Land (Genesis ch.13).

He strove to raise a family (Genesis ch.15, 17, and 24) which would serve God (Genesis 18:19); and God eventually blessed his efforts, granting him many children (ibid., ch.16, 21 and 25), as He had promised(Genesis ch.17).

Abraham founded the Jewish people and lived to see his work live on in the persons of Isaac and Jacob; and he taught many other disciples as well (Talmud, Yoma 28b).

He saved the population of the south of Canaan from invading foreign kings (Genesis 14); and he was feared by neighboring kings (ibid., ch.12 and 20).

Abraham gave tithes (Genesis ch.14), entered into a covenant with God (Genesis ch.15 and 17), welcomed guests into his home (Genesis ch.18) unlike the inhospitable Sodomites (Genesis ch.19), prayed for people (Genesis ch.18), rebuked others when necessary (Genesis ch.20), eulogized and buried the deceased (Genesis ch.23), and fulfilled God's will unquestioningly (Genesis ch.22).

He became renowned as a prince of God (Genesis 23:6).

The gravesite of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives (Genesis 49:29-32) is located in Hebron and has been known and attested to for many centuries.

All of the above practices of Abraham were based upon the ways of God, which Abraham comprehended through his contemplations. These, and similar personality traits, were the teachings of Abraham and his descendants (unlike idolatry, which had tended to go hand in hand with cruel, licentious and excessive behavior, since the caprices which were narrated concerning the idols were adopted as an excuse to imitate those types of behavior). (See: Cruelties of the polytheists)

It is therefore clear why God expresses His love for Abraham (Isaiah 41:8) and calls Himself the God of Abraham (Genesis 26:24), and says that Abraham obeyed Him fully (Genesis 26:5). And this is why Abraham is credited with having begun the religion which became known as Judaism. (However, Abraham and his descendants observed their traditions voluntarily, until the Giving of the Torah to Moses 3325 years ago, when God made it obligatory.)

See also:

Was Abraham real?

Debunking Bible-Criticism

Answer 4

Judaism Many regard the founder of Judaism to be Abraham, whom they consider to have lived before 2000 BCE. Others may regard the true founder of Judaism to be Moses, who is traditionally considered to have lived around 1400 BCE.

However, most scholars regard the stories of Abraham and Moses as creations of the first millennium BCE. They point out that the Bible also tells us that the people of Israel (the northern kingdom) were, throughout its history, polytheistic in their religious beliefs. Even in the south, in Judah, the people worshipped many gods until at least the time of King Hezekia (729-686 BCE), who made the first real attempt, in historic times, to impose a monotheistic religion. However, Hezekiah's son allowed Judah to revert to polytheism. On this evidence, Judaism, as we know it, did not yet exist in Judah.

We now know that much of what we know as the Hebrew Bible was written by the 'Deuteronomist' source during the reign of King Josiah ( about 640-609 BCE. From the time of Josiah, a monotheistic religion seems to have become dominant among the Jews. The role of Josiah in finally enforcing a monotheistic religion with its own canon of literature, make him arguably the real founder of Judaism as we know it - in the 7th century BCE.

Islam

Islam is known to have been founded by the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century CE.

Hinduism

The earliest form of Hinduism evolved in the proto-Indo-Iranian culture of southern Russia over 2000 BCE. The Brahmins migrated from this area into the Indus Valley, from which the religion gradually spread through India and to south-eastern Asia. There is no known founder of Hinduism.

Buddhism

Buddhism was founded by Siddharta Gautama (c. 563-483 BCE), who became the Buddha.