Random Events and the Dominance of Some Religions Over Others
The story of where we humans came from is getting more and more complex. It is now apparent there were waves of different kinds of pre humans. And, they moved here and there across continents interbreeding. Africa remains the theoretical home of the first humans. But now there is evidence there were several different variations and that some groups left the African continent later returned. New science is helping unravel the mystery but the climate does not help. Bones and any other evidence deteriorates in Africa.
On our own continent people came here long ago. Evidence about them deteriorated because of climate and invading groups, Europeans, destroyed a lot of evidence. Europeans prevailed over native populations largely, it is now believed, because of disease. Military conquests might not have been successful if the disease problem had moved in the other direction and the European invaders had died in large numbers instead of natives.
To me it is inevitable the myths people believed moved around the globe with the people who traveled, were killed or conquered others. That is what has happened since recorded history. Why would it not explain the prominence of Christianity? It remains a mystery how anyone, make that ANYONE, can believe there is one religion that is "true" and all others not. Any religion located anywhere is the result of war, migration, climate and fortuitous events. And that includes Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and anything else.
There is one thing that has been very consistent. Over the 2-300,000 years humans or human-like creatures have existed there have always been those who did not believe in the super natural. That has at least been true in past few thousand years of recorded history. I think those non believers acted as an anchor to reality that prevented all humans from killing off each other or in some other way throwing themselves off the cliff.
Random events changed religions often. They did not change non belief.
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