Now i was just having a bit of a revelation, but i was thinking arn't all religions sort of connected? Greeks=many gods, Catholics=saints you pray to them both for mostly the same things, so isn't it possible that they are both the same,the same spirts under differnt minds? You be the judge.....
If one may read the book, "Man of a Thousand Faces" By Joseph Campbell- they'll read it to notice a great book based on the same speculations.
The evidence is staggering, though it's still very debatable.
Personally, I think there was periods of time of which all religions (speaking as a whole) had.
Specifically, the idea of religion- it came from somewhere therefore in Neolithic times when religion first broke out they were all based on the same things.
But, then there were only few religions therefore the thought of them all being rooted together is quite plausible.
After-wards, of course the segregation of continental separation between certain peoples caused an eruption of purely original religions.
This is caused perhaps a few roots, that sprouted into many, various religions seen today; instead of having just one root.
What I'm saying is:
Roman Catholicism (600-100 B.C.E) + Hinduism (1200 B.C.E-c2000 C.E) = Indo-European Christianity evolving into what we all know today as typical Catholicism.
Today's Catholicism (Indo-European) + Duidry (European) + Shamanism (Native American) = something similar to new age Christian Paganism.
It's all quite interesting stuff really.
Lady_Snow
I had a conversation about that same subject with a catholic freind of mine(i'm the greek in this situation) you're pretty much right i always thought of it as people have different imagination and what they want there gods to look like or be like or even what kind of beleifs they have you know, like thats what kind of religion they pick, but some people are just dragged in it or do it for there heritage type of people.
Religions, nearly all kinds, are very connected. There are a lot of parallels between them. The legitimacy of the stories is for you to decide for yourself.
The Saints and the Devils of Christianity are the Pagan Gods and Goddesses. Same thing. Christianity took the Pagan Gods and Goddesses and turned them into their own Saints and Devils. Just like Saint Lucia for example; She was descended from the Sun Goddess who is known in many culture's all across the world. The myths are similar, but different.