[NeedMoreTea]

What makes Buddhism clearly man made whilst christianity is not? They seem to share similar tenets based on old stories and teachings of some personalities (or prophets if you prefer). The success of Abrahamic religions stems from historic use of missionaries and enforced conversion which makes them unavoidably deeply entwined with history. History that's written by the battle winners...

If there is such a thing as a default religion that emerges some point after intelligence evolves next time around, I'd expect it to have a similar journey but in no way a similar destination. Start with something of a gaia / earth-centred spirits, and maybe on to polytheistic paganism. I doubt there would be another Thor, Isis or Eostre. One true religion is likely to come only after society has developed enough to encourage personalities that can proselytise, no? I'd be astonished if what then emerged was even remotely comparable to anything that went before though.

[umvi]

> What makes Buddhism clearly man made whilst christianity is not?

Well, it may just be my ignorance, but I thought Buddists didn't believe in God. I thought it was more a bunch of good philosophies that a man named Buddha came up with. Even the religion itself is named after a man (named Buddha).

[NeedMoreTea]

Well there's the plains of existence that one can be reincarnated to - the heavenly, human and hell (Not sure what they are properly called). Without the need for a creator god. From a 21st century perspective that's probably a feature not a bug, as that doesn't need hand waving around where god came from, geology, evolution and what not.

Personally I can't see much difference between that and the Christian heaven and hell, or even Valhalla and Freja's field in Asgard, with Midgard and Hel (sic) - albeit with far less battle to get there. Heck, even The Apocalypse compared to Ragnarok. Just as there are commonalities in the Abrahamic there are commonalities in the Indian religions like karma and reincarnation, and surprising commonalities across the lot. They all seem to speak of the same basic needs - perhaps a sign of an innate inclination for religion - and very similar concepts, like of going somewhere after. Maybe there's a basic truth underlying every one of them, but I incline to them all being man made.

Which is why I would tend to think restarting the level would give a very similar journey through common ideas but entirely different destinations. Interesting to imagine, but I'm not likely to find out. :)

> Even the religion itself is named after a man

Christianity is named after a man called Jesus Christ. Islam used to be called Muhammadism, after Muhammad, though I am not sure if that was a Western name or actually used by believers.

[chanon]

Buddha is not his name, his name is Siddhārtha Gautama.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_(title)