HIS301_Short_Paper_2.docx HIS-301-World History and Culture Short Paper: Religions Hu

HIS301_Short_Paper_2.docx    HIS-301-World History and Culture  Short Paper: Religions  Human beings have an innate need to explain what cannot be reasonably understood, for example; the sun and moon, what happens when you die, and the changing of seasons. Though we are unable to know the exact origin of religion or when it started, it is understood that every ancient culture and cultures today practice some sort of religious beliefs. By examining the similarities and differences between cultural beliefs about the afterlife amongst different cultures, we can see similar biases in which some gods were created and how religions are connected.  Mesopotamia has been credited as the birthplace of religion, as the first written evidence of religion and religious beliefs were recorded on Sumerian tablets around 3500 BCE.[1] Other cultures and civilizations hold similar beliefs to those held in India and China which surfaced many years later. Though Mesopotamians believed that people worked together with the gods to keep evil forces and chaos at bay since the beginning of time. The citizens felt that the gods would protect them and help to maintain their way of life, providing for their daily needs and that there was not a single god that could protect their way of life and provide all their needs.[2]  Like many religions, Hinduism, being one of the oldest religions that is still being practiced in today™s world, believes that there is no single god.[3] Though Hinduism is usually referred to as a Polytheisti