What Was the First Religion?

What was the first religion? Genesis reports that by the third generation from Adam,

“At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.”

Genesis 4:26

The common view in academic culture is that religion evolved, starting with the worship of objects like trees and animals (animism) and grew into worship of ancestors or multiple gods (polytheism) and eventually one universal God (monotheism), like in the Bible.  In this view there was no original recognition or worship of God. Monotheism is viewed as the last stage of religious development in a long course of “spiritual” evolution.  Behind this idea is that the belief in one God (e.g., Yahweh of the Bible) is something which is a human innovation that grew over time rather than a truth which was divinely revealed.  So which view is accurate? It will be a surprise to many that the best evidence points to monotheism, the worship of one Supreme Creator, as humanity’s oldest religion and idea of God.   

In western cultures it was generally believed for centuries that monotheism, as reflected in the Bible, was the original religious belief system. This began to change as Charles Darwin’s theory of biological evolution gained currency. It started with the publication, On The Origin of Species, in 1859.  As human beings were seen to have evolved from a simple biological form to a complex organism, so religion was assumed to have originated from a very simple and primitive belief system (worship of objects) to a more advanced system of monotheism with its elaborate practices (The temple and priests) and moral codes (The Ten Commandments).  Darwin stated in his 1896 work, Descent of Man, that there is no evidence that people were originally endowed with the ennobling belief in the existence of an Omnipotent God. On the contrary, he claimed, “mental faculties…led man to believe in unseen spiritual agencies, then… [the worship of objects], polytheism, and ultimately monotheism…”  Darwin would be proven wrong on this assertion.   

The Case for Ancient Monotheism

Through the work of leading scholars such as Andrew Lang (1844-1912), Wilhelm Schmidt (1868-1954), Edward Man (1846-1921), Christopher Ehret (b.1941) and the collected reports of many explorers, missionaries, and ethnologists (people who study different societies and cultures), it has been discovered that among the earliest people (tribes and clans) there has been a consistent belief in a supreme being resembling the God of the Bible.  This is seen in three ways:

1. How God is referenced as, “our father,” “one above,” “divine sky lord,” “great and supreme spirit,” “slayer in the sky,” and “overseer.”
2. How God is described as the creative power of the universe, the giver of the moral law, incapable of evil, omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent. (Though these words were not used, their descriptions imply such.
3. How God is related to in prayer, worship, and intentional obedience.   

The evidence for this is found among people groups on all continents who have the oldest religious belief system. Let’s look at the evidence from different parts of the world.

Australia

Through the path breaking research of Andrew Lang (referred to above), it was discovered that original tribes who lived in isolation (as far back as several thousand years with unchanged beliefs), tended toward monotheism.  In other words, the more a tribe was left unchanged the more it held to a form of monotheism. They showed no evidence of evolving from a previous polytheism, animism or ancestor worship.  Examples include:

• The Narinari who believed in a supreme being called Nurrundere or Martummere. He created everything and taught humans all necessary rituals and means of survival. 
• The Maraura who say Nurelli is the supreme god who created the entire land, gave laws, and ascended to heaven. He is represented by a constellation among the stars. 
• The Woiworung and the Wotjobaluk called their supreme being Bunjil. They all refer to him as “Our Father,” in their respective languages.  
• The Gunai know their supreme god only by the name of Mungan ngaua, “Our Father.” 
• The Jeithi, Kamilaroi, and Ualarai worship Baiame who the Ualarai call the “Allfather, whose laws all tribes must obey.” 

These are just representative examples. What makes this finding more significant is that Lang held to the view of monotheism’s evolution from polytheism and animism. He shifted his view because of the clear evidence drawn from his observation and study.

Asia

The Andaman Islands are a chain of islands running roughly parallel to the Southeast Asian peninsula. The Andaman Islanders, a pygmoid group, though richer in their material culture than some of the Australian tribes, were cut off from communication with the rest of the world for a long time. They drew a web of secrecy around their religion. Because of this they were considered to be a religionless people. Anthropologist Edward Man (referred to above) spent eleven years with them, speaking their language and gaining their trust. He eventually learned about their beliefs which had forever remained hidden to outsiders. Their supreme god is an invisible being named Puluga, who is without beginning or end in time, knows our thoughts, and enforces a strict moral code. Among the sins he punishes are “falsehood, theft, grave assault, murder, adultery.”  However, he also has pity on those who are hurting and may possibly provide relief.

James Legge (1815–1897) was a Scottish missionary to China and a leading scholar of Chinese history and culture. During his time in China, Legge produced a massive seven-volume translation of the Chinese classics into English. Previously unknown to Europeans, James Legge’s translation of the Chinese classics into English revealed an astounding picture of religion in ancient China. Legge concluded that Shang Di, the God of the ancient Chinese, was synonymous with the God of the Hebrew Bible. In support of this conclusion, he writes:

“Do the Chinese know the true God? . . . I answer unhesitatingly in the affirmative. The evidence supplied by Chinese literature and history appears to me so strong, that I find it difficult to conceive how any one, who has studied it, can come to the opposite conclusion.”

He further asserted that Shang Di is self-existent and eternal; his years are without end. Moreover, in their 4000 years of history, the Chinese have never fashioned an image of Shang Di.

North America

In North Central California the Yuki are an indigenous people with a rather unique language, who found their way out of Alaska migrating across the Bearing Straits. It is guessed that they navigated the passage through the Yukon Territory, which would have been treacherous, and were looking for comfortable and resource-rich area to settle down. These people show the clearest proof of a truly monotheistic religion. Not only do they recognize a single God, but they pray to him and worship him regularly. Wilhelm Schmidt (mentioned above) summarizes their cultures as follows: In their oldest pure forms they are not animists or polytheists.

“Their simple social constitution is founded on the natural family, and their little village communities exhibit rudimentary chieftainship. This is one example that among the oldest primitive peoples of North America that we find a clear and firmly established belief in a High God. There was the worship of an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator or “Master Spirit”

Africa 

Some scholars, including the historical ethnologist Christopher Ehret (mentioned above), make the case that certain traditional African religions had monotheistic concepts, such as belief in a creator god which date back to the beginning of their history. Ehret specifically points out the similarities between the African and Jewish religion, sharing a similar conception of an inner spirit, as well as circumcising boys as a rite of passage.

Where Did Animism/Polytheism Come From?

If all of this is true, it raises an important question. Where did polytheism come from? According to the Bible, every human being on Earth is a descendent of Noah and his family (Genesis 9:18–19), who were monotheists. If this is true, we should find among ancient cultures the worship of one God. Andrew Lang proposed that humanity started out as monotheists and then devolved into polytheism. This is what Paul teaches:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Romans 1:20-23

It is clear that humanity started with a true knowledge of the one God (Genesis 4:26, 9:18-19) but developed the worship of things (animism) from a moral corruption. Humanity devolved in their understanding of God rather than evolved. Paul explains that “they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God (monotheism) for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles (animism/polytheism).” When God reveals himself to the Jewish people through Moses and declares:  Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), monotheism is now being authoritatively restored. This was not an evolution of understanding but a revolution restoring back to the monotheism which had been originally held.

The Melchizidek Principle

Though animism and polytheism spread, belief in one God has remained latent in many cultures. About 600 years before Moses, when Abraham traveled to pagan dominated Canaan and encountered a priest by the name of Melchizidek. (Genesis 14:18-20) Abraham, though given the special covenant revelation (Genesis 12:1-3), will receive blessing from Melchizidek and tithed to him as a spiritual superior. (Psalms 110:4, Hebrews 7:1-4) Abraham encountered a “pagan” who still had a true knowledge of God. Missionaries, for generations, have observed this “Melchizidek principle” through cultures all over the world where a belief in the one God was held.

Don Richardson tells of many accounts like this in his book, Eternity In Their Hearts. One fascinating story is detailed as follows:

Two Christian missionaries came to the Santal people in India. One day they heard an elder speak of the “genuine God,” Thakur Jiu. When they inquired who this God was, they heard a fascinating story of how the Santal had worshiped Thakur Jiu before they came from the Middle East to India. As they migrated toward India, they could not find a pass through the mountains, so they propitiated the evil spirits of the mountains to let them through. Once through, the people had felt obligated to continue to appease the evil spirits. Over time they lost much of their knowledge of the Creator God, but they longed for reconciliation. The two missionaries concluded that Thakur Jiu and the God of the Bible were the same, and they proceeded to inform the people of what this God had done through his Son to reconcile them. The people were overjoyed to hear that their God had not forgotten them, and a remarkable number of baptisms followed in the years ahead.

Though the knowledge of the one God had been diminished, it has never been destroyed. As Paul affirms,

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 

Acts 17:26-27