What makes major world religions survive longer than others?

by shibaizutsu

According to wiki we have at least Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism among the biggest fours, on other hand we no longer see Roman paganism, Gnosticism, etc, what makes them survive?

DangerManMan

I think you'll have a hard time saying whether there is one particular thing that makes these religions special or gives them some specific trait of longevity. You could ask particular examples, like "why did Christianity become so dominant and prevalent over Roman paganism?" or "Why did Confucionism have more of an impact than Legalism?", but as it stands your question is too broad. Hundreds of forces political, social, militaristic, philosophical in nature have influenced the lasting of each of the religions you listed, among others.

Nelson_Mac

It probably makes more sense to flip this question around. Why did some major religions die out / lose adherents? When you put it this way, I think you will see that most religions that died, died because those religions were too closely tied to a particular polity and when the political organization collapsed the religion died. So for example, (a) Greco-Roman paganism: died after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire, (b) Zoroastrianism: lost many adherents after the Persian kingdom that supported it disappeared (but the religion itself survives), (c) Viking and Norse paganism: died when Christianity became the official religion of the Scandinavian kings, (d) Aztec and Inca religions: died out after the Conquistadors wiped out their empires, (e) Confucianism: lost adherents after the Qing Empire stopped supporting it (by the time the Chinese people attacked it in the 1920s it was already dying out and today is practically dead, particularly after the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s). In contrast, religions that weren't dependent on state support were more resilient when the government collapsed. The ordinary people could carry on the religion. The best story of this transition is Judaism. Judaism since King Solomon's time was a religion that had strong state support and centered on the Temple of Jerusalem, but when the Romans destroyed the Kingdom of Judea and the Temple, the Jews were able to transform their religion and survive.