Why are most people who practice a syncretic religion unaware that they do so?

Answer 1

A:A syncretic religion is one that brings together two distinct sets of belief to create an entirely new one. Relatively modern examples of syncretism include Druze (which integrates the beliefs of Ismaili Islam with the philosophical doctrines of Gnosticism and Platonism), Sikhism and Bahai. However, there are some surprising earlier, mainstream examples.

Daoism, an ancient Chinese religion incorporates elements of Chinese folk religion and Chinese Buddhism.

At the time Islam arose in southern Arabia, paganism, Christianity and Judaism were contesting for followers. Islam can be said to incorporate elements of early Orthodox Christianity and of Judaism, as well as the local pagan beliefs. For example, Muslim jinn were known in pre-Islamic pagan belief.

Christianity is also a syncretic religion. It incorporates elements of Zoroastrianism that were not fully adopted by Judaism or, like hell or the evil personality of Satan, were subsequently rejected by Judaism. Within the context of their Judaic origin, some scholars also detect two different proto-Christian traditions that eventually merged to become modern Christianity. One is a sayings tradition that knew nothing of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, which Burton L Mack calls the Jesus Movement. The other, which Burton L Mack calls the Christ cult, taught of the crucifixion and destiny of Christ but knew little of the teachings attributed to Jesus. The 'Word' in John chapter 1 is based on the Greek Logos and entered Christianity via Philo of Alexandria.

Judaism is heavily syncretic. A number of concepts that were first adopted during the Babylonian Exile, parallel existing concepts in Zoroastrianism. The Jewish God was formerly known as YHWH (pronounced 'Yahweh', modern Hebrew: YHVH), but Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) say that Yahweh was originally a storm God, later becoming worshipped as the sun God and only being understood as a universal God in the late monarchy.

What I have tried to show here is that every religion, with the possible exception of Animism, is a syncretic religion - yet scarcely anyone thinks of his or her religion as syncretic. Most people who devoutly believe in a particular religion will think of it as the only true religion, which usually precludes knowledge of its syncretic past.