What was the first culture to practice monotheism?

Answer 1

Urmonotheismus (German for "primeval monotheism") or primitive monotheism is the hypothesis of a monotheistic Urreligion, from which non-monotheistic religions degenerated and is supported by a number of scholars. Judeo-Christian scripture supports this view.

Evolutionary biologists argue for Judeo-Christian scriptures as mythology so dismiss them out-of-hand. They argue preanimism, then animism, totemism, polytheism and finally monotheism developed based on the archeolological evidence; however, the physical evidence does not "prove" that the first modern humans were not monotheists... it's just their best guess after dismissing ancient manuscripts that assert it as myth.

Answer 2

I may be wrong but I believe the first move towards a monotheistic religion was made by Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharoah. He went against the contemporary trend of many gods, even going so far as building a new city dedicated to the worship of the one god, the sun god Aten out in the desert. This move so infuriated the powerful priests of the time that after his death (under extremely murky circumstances) they set about totally obliterating all record and memory of his reign and were so successful at it that the existence of Akhenaten was only relatively recently unearthed.

Answer 3

Some claim Zoroastrianism is the oldest monotheism. However, ancient traditions state that the Zoroastrians believed in two gods (Talmud, Sanhedrin 39a), while the first monotheistic religion in history is Judaism. The Ten commandments that state "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me", were written between the times 1513 BCE and 1445 BCE, while Zoroastrianism can only be dated back to the 6th century BCE.

Answer 4

Genesis does state that the earliest religion was monotheistic, but Genesis is the wallflower in modern Biblical apologetics. Obviously it it true if you look at the work on Primitive Relgions and Primitive Revelation, esp that of Wilhelm Schmidt (from memory, might be off a bit). This topic has always interested me, esp in relation to Lascaus and the cave paintings and artifacts found in my lifetime.

Answer 5

The first culture to practice monotheism was the culture of Persia. The religion of Zoroastrianism led by the Persian prophet Zarathustra.

Answer 6

Zoroastrianism was the first big one. There may have been monotheistic indigenous beliefs before it.

Answer 7

The people who worshiped Hinduism.

Answer 8

Hebrew