Who, when and where were these religions founded? Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam/Muslim, and Confucianism
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Judaism is one of the oldest religion of the world. The exact time of foundation of this religion or the identity of the persons responsible for development of the religion is not known for sure. All we can say is that basic laws and teachings of Judaism are derived from Torah, the first five book of Hebrew Bible, or the old Testament.
The Buddhist religion originated about 2500 years back out of teachings of Gautama Buddha. There are differences among scholars regarding time when Buddha lived. Most scholars believe that Buddha lived from about 563 to 483 B.C.
Gautama Buddha was a prince who got disenchanted from this world observing its miseries like sickness, old age and death, and became an ascetic in search of real happiness. After about six years of an arduous life spent in search of true happiness he attained enlightenment. He then spread his ideas to others, and this became the starting point for Buddhist religion.
Christianity developed around 2000 years back from the life an teachings of Jesus Christ who lived in Palestine. During his lifetime Jesus preached his ideas about the right way of living and behaving. After his bodily death, his teachings wee spread by his main disciples.
Islam religion was established by its founder, Prophet Muhammad in the year 600 A.D. Unlike other major religions of the world, Islam was formally founded as an alternative religion by its founder, rather than developing gradually out of the teachings and ideas of the founder.
Prophet Muhammad began preaching his ideas in Mecca around 610 A.D. In 622, Muhammad was forced to flee to Medina with some followers, in the face of opposition from people of Mecca. He was able to gain more power in Medina, and by 630 he was able to return of Mecca and forced his opponents to surrender. From Mecca and Medina Islam spread to other parts of the world.
Confucianism is more of a philosophy based on the ideas of Chinese philosopher Confucius, that has deeply influenced the thinking and way of life of the Chinese people.
Confucius was born about 551 B.C.and died in about 479 B.C. He was not very well known during his life time and his ideas were spread later by his followers. The two most important followers of Confucius were Mencius (390?-305? B.C.) and Xunzi (mid-200's B.C.).
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