(April 10, 2012 at 5:45 am)Christian Wrote: Why did all the three main religions (that is Christianity, Judaism and Islam) have thier origins in the middle east? I am curious. I asked this to my fellow Christian brothers and none could answer it. Probably someone here can.
I have actually heeded advise from some members here and now doing my own research.
There were civilizations in the middle east way before there were any in the west, due to the fertile crescent formed by the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Nile. The basis of Judaism, and therefore christianity, are the old religions in Mesopotamia, such as in Babylon, but whittled down to one god.
The middle east had a huge influence on the development of the western world. The ancient Greek religion was based on various hittite and Phoenician beliefs. The Phoenicians were a civilisation in Canaan, and created the alphabet upon which the Hebrew and Greek ( and therefore latin) alphabets are based upon. The Phoenicians were very rich, so their influence spread.
The Greeks also had a huge influence, as the romans emulated the greeks in every which way they could. Then, when the roman empire converted to christianity, it converted western europe, who didn't really have collective worship. It had a lesser influence on the middle east, who had their own religions, such as Mithraism, Zoroathrianism and Judaism.
Islam was spread by the sword (generals like Khalid ibn Whalid were instrumental in this) , and by the 9th century CE, had an empire stretching from spain to afghanistan. People gravitated to the religions that were espoused by their rulers, since religious tolerance hardly existed ( it existed more so in the Islamic Caliphates, which valued the jewish people because they were often very learned).
That's all I can think of for now.
