Monotheism is assumed to have first emerged around 500 BC, but there is an overwhelming amount of stunning evidence monotheism emerged thousands of years ago and may precede all other forms of religion.
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So a couple of things to note:
The first is I would encourage everyone to watch to the end as I will push back on some of Lang and Schmidt’s conclusion and actually disagree with them on some things. This is not a video arguing for original monotheism. This is a video on ancient monotheism. That will be made clear at the end.
The second issue is there is a debate among scholars if the epic, “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta“ should be translated to reflect a time in the past. It might be referring to a future event, but for the purposes of this video, it is mainly being used as a hook, not part of my main thrust of evidence.
Third, Schmidt argued the pigmy tribes in central Africa were one of the most, if not the most, primitive culture out there. Many of these tribes have turned out to be polytheistic, but some, like the Batwa, do seem to be monotheistic.
Fourth, the terms, monotheism, and polytheism, are probably not the best terms to describe any religion, but they are overwhelmingly accepted by the culture we live so I am working within those parameters. This is why in the video I try to use the term “monotheistic“ more than saying they were strict monotheists. I hope this becomes clear when you use catholicism as an example.
Sources:
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Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta-
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Aboriginal ’memories’ of Australia’s coastline go back more than 7,000 years
Early human occupation of southeastern Australia: New insights from 40Ar/39Ar dating of young volcanoes
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