1. Comment #382431 by BarrenCroe on May 28, 2009 at 6:51 am

2006 A.D. The God Delusion comes out and the world begins to fade of it's colors.

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2. Comment #382432 by Mbee on May 28, 2009 at 6:52 am

Also - Prior to 3000 BC everyone was an Atheist!

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3. Comment #382447 by NewEnglandBob on May 28, 2009 at 7:11 am

The colors are all wrong.

They should have used brown, black, red and yellow.

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4. Comment #382452 by AfraidToDie on May 28, 2009 at 7:17 am

2. Comment #382432 by Mbee: Prior to 3000 BC everyone was an Atheist!

I would guess that prior to 3k bc most believed in intervening gods or supernatural forces that caused all the earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and crops to fail. And then they decided to reduce them down to one intervening force hiding above the clouds, and now pushed out beyond the galaxies. Perhaps he/she has fallen into a black hole?

Wonderful visual!!

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5. Comment #382462 by HandyGeek on May 28, 2009 at 7:26 am

Nice!

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6. Comment #382467 by Sally Luxmoore on May 28, 2009 at 7:32 am

I like that.
It should, however, be partnered with at least 2 other scales - one showing the age of the earth and another showing the evolution of life - bacteria rules!

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7. Comment #382473 by Matt Heath on May 28, 2009 at 7:42 am

Shouldn't the Buddhist red have pushed out the Hindu orange (or at least mingled with it) over quite a lot of India for a while before Hinduism reasserted itself?

Also, showing Hinduism and Judaism spreading as if created from nothing on after the supposed births of their (probably fictional) founders is buying into their claims rather too much. Hinduism particularly has shared ancestry with European paganism that is well enough known.

And calling what the Christians did in the Americas "Missions" (as opposed to the "conquests" of the Muslims) is a bit euphemistic.

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8. Comment #382476 by friendlypig on May 28, 2009 at 7:50 am

Comment #382473 by Matt Heath on May 28, 2009 at 7:42 am

And calling what the Christians did in the Americas "Missions" (as opposed to the "conquests" of the Muslims) is a bit euphemistic.

You expect truth and balance? Come on!

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9. Comment #382479 by Matt Heath on May 28, 2009 at 7:57 am

friendlypig @#382476 "
You expect truth and balance? Come on!

Having just looked at their "History of Democracy" I see quite how foolish that was

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10. Comment #382485 by Caudimordax on May 28, 2009 at 8:05 am

2006 A.D. The God Delusion comes out and the world begins to fade of it's colors.

Especially the bloodstains.

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11. Comment #382486 by Sally Luxmoore on May 28, 2009 at 8:06 am

Comment #382485 by Caudimordax.
Excellent.

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12. Comment #382502 by prospero811 on May 28, 2009 at 8:29 am

It would be better if they included other religions - Greek, Roman, Norse/Germanic, Mormon, Scientologist, etc. This doesn't cover "religion" - just "some religions."

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13. Comment #382510 by RisenAsh on May 28, 2009 at 8:34 am

Also - Prior to 3000 BC everyone was an Atheist!

Eehh...no. Not exactly.
And by the way, without theism atheism makes no sense and it isn't a useful description. Before people started believing in supernatural powers they were not "atheists". Those labels were "NOT OF APPLICATION".

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14. Comment #382552 by Lucas on May 28, 2009 at 10:14 am

Very, very nice. Simplified, yes, but relatively accurate in the broad view.

Before people started believing in supernatural powers they were not "atheists". Those labels were "NOT OF APPLICATION".

That's assuming there was a time before people starting believing in supernatural powers, which, so far, doesn't look likely. Seems to come along with being people, as we define it. But yes, previous to the time this map covers, there was plenty of religion. Probably about, what, 100,000 years worth of tribal polytheism?

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15. Comment #382562 by Stafford Gordon on May 28, 2009 at 10:31 am

It's bloody well everywhere!

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16. Comment #382564 by Diogenes of Sinope on May 28, 2009 at 10:33 am

I would have preferred to have seen some of the more recent additions to the religious spectrum appear at the end, like Scientology, to show that there's nothing special about the established religions, simply by virtue of their antiquity.

However, I assume that the makers don't have an explicitly atheist agenda and aren't deliberately trying to undermine organised religion.

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17. Comment #382567 by severalspeciesof on May 28, 2009 at 10:44 am

1. Comment #382431 by BarrenCroe

The God Delusion comes out and the world begins to fade of it's colors.

Maybe for you, but 'Unweaving the Rainbow' comes out and the world is greeted with billions more rainbows, and 'The God Delusion' makes that fact all the more spectacular...

[EDIT: BTW, Caudi your post marked as excellent too...]

[2nd EDIT: BarrenCroe- If you meant that because of TGD religion is disappearing, then my comment doesn't quite fit... Such is language...]

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18. Comment #382570 by TCM on May 28, 2009 at 10:52 am

The democracy one is classic:

"French Revolution: Democracy spreads to Europe"!

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19. Comment #382571 by epeeist on May 28, 2009 at 10:53 am

Comment #382510 by RisenAsh:

And by the way, without theism atheism makes no sense and it isn't a useful description. Before people started believing in supernatural powers they were not "atheists". Those labels were "NOT OF APPLICATION".

More likely to have been animists of some kind.

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20. Comment #382594 by Souvlaki on May 28, 2009 at 11:50 am

"And by the way, without theism atheism makes no sense and it isn't a useful description. "

True. The dawn of atheism was about 20 minutes after the first human to ever dream up a god sat down to write about it and a second human came along and said, "Bullshit".

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21. Comment #382595 by Sciros on May 28, 2009 at 12:01 pm

And by the way, without theism atheism makes no sense and it isn't a useful description. Before people started believing in supernatural powers they were not "atheists". Those labels were "NOT OF APPLICATION".

Those labels would not have existed in that situation. Now that they do, they can be applied. They may not have made sense to those people, but they make sense to us so I don't see how they can't legitimately be used :-/

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22. Comment #382618 by lcynck on May 28, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Comment #382467 by Sally Luxmoore on May 28, 2009 at 7:32 am

Nice intuitive format and agree, , for wider (educational) perspective, have even earlier intro of:

- religions rising/extinquished
(ie. norse, roman, greek, inca, Chinese folk gods, American Indian, Australian, speculative primitive beliefs etc.)
- as well as spread of 'modern' secular thinking propagating somehow ...

and for perspective, a diverging epilog putting entire timeframe relative to:
- earliest primates/mammals/humans
- earliest life
- birth of moon
- age of Earth
- age of universe

Asis, seems to promote strength of Christianity,
ie. embellishing it's (and Islam's) relevance
with simplistic mapping, not giving justice to religious/secular diversity.

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23. Comment #382621 by littletrotsky13 on May 28, 2009 at 1:09 pm

It's funny that judaism ( possibly hinduism, but definitely judaism) is shown spreading according to how it's holy book claims (showing them existing in 2000bc. which isn't guaranteed in the least, and owning all of the land before the conquest).
I start to wish that the Assyrians had thought Jerusalem was actually worth conquering.

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24. Comment #382632 by Quine on May 28, 2009 at 2:03 pm

Would have liked to have seen Zoroaster in the early part.

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25. Comment #382649 by Neil Schipper on May 28, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Fantastic concept. Imagine if kids were shown this weekly from about grade 4 on, in prep for hearing major stories from the various empires. Not "history", but OUR story.

Also, is it fair to call USSR & China under communism xtian and buddhist respectively?

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26. Comment #382672 by m-man on May 28, 2009 at 3:47 pm

Interesting how it spreads just like a virus would.

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27. Comment #382681 by Border Collie on May 28, 2009 at 4:10 pm

Rather like the plague, but worse ...

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28. Comment #382710 by eoinc on May 28, 2009 at 4:59 pm

They should have used more distinct colours for Christianity and Judaism. People - like me - with certain types of colour blindness can't tell them apart. I assume that one is blue and the other is purple, or something like that, but they look the same to me.

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29. Comment #382711 by Sally Luxmoore on May 28, 2009 at 5:02 pm

eoinc.
Christianity was blue and Judaism was a strong pink. My uncle was red/ green colour blind.
I suppose this means you are not an electrician? -No offence intended- ;)

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30. Comment #382714 by MarshallEvans on May 28, 2009 at 5:11 pm

Very interesting to watch. It does help put our modern religions into perspective, but this is like 101 kind of stuff. So much more could be said, in an academic analysis, which would put it in an even greater perspective. I really think they should teach a "history of world religions" class in all public schools - everywhere.

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31. Comment #382716 by Happy Rotter on May 28, 2009 at 5:12 pm

It looks very nice, but I'm disappointed about the contents because there are to many errors, not to mention the omissions.

Was Krishna born£, Was Abraham born£, No Buddhism in India£, Did Jesus die£, etc..

Indeed, as Matt Heath and littletrotsky13 mention, it is mostly tradition that is being shown instead of history.

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32. Comment #382721 by j.mills on May 28, 2009 at 5:59 pm

It would be good if this was done as an authoritative tool, covering religion but also political boundaries, languages, ideologies, etc, and dynamically updated on the web by scholars in the relevant fields. Somebody sort it out!

Interesting choices, as others have noted. Plopping Israel back in at the end almost looks like a joke. But there are more Sikhs than Jews and they don't get a look-in. And us infidels ought to be paling the colours worldwide. :)

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

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33. Comment #382743 by pottypope on May 28, 2009 at 7:29 pm

Rather good, obviously trying to get 5000years into such a small strip presents it's challenges.

I think most people wish that they had a loving god looking over us to help us in times of need.

However, it baffles me why, even after 5000years of proof that god only randomly helps some people and kills, maims and starves others, without any logical reason, that people still bother about begging him for help - when he clearly either does not listen - nor care!

The question is, if, or, hopefully, when, religion is dumped, what do we replace it with?

After all, it is comparatively cheap entertainment, and church is a good place to carefully gander at all the tarts while they are praying!!!!

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34. Comment #382762 by Alternative Carpark on May 28, 2009 at 8:25 pm

Every religious person should see this.

Rather they should be made to see it, clockwork orange style.

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35. Comment #382771 by Sheol99 on May 28, 2009 at 8:52 pm

How about a similar map for rationality, humanism, democracy, human-rights, "new"-atheism ?
With special dates mentioning Newton, Copernicus, Darwin, Dawkins ?

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36. Comment #382790 by BarrenCroe on May 28, 2009 at 10:46 pm

[2nd EDIT: BarrenCroe- If you meant that because of TGD religion is disappearing, then my comment doesn't quite fit... Such is language...]

Yea, sorry for the misunderstanding, I meant the colors on this particular map would (hopefully) begin to fade.

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37. Comment #382793 by RightWingAtheist on May 28, 2009 at 11:19 pm

Whoever made that "Pathogen" game should do one for religion.

All they have to do is replace some of the text.

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38. Comment #382881 by severalspeciesof on May 29, 2009 at 6:09 am

Comment #382790 by BarrenCroe

Thanks for clearing that up...

And welcome to the party!!!...

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39. Comment #382968 by zengardener on May 29, 2009 at 10:15 am

This is pretty cool concept but I would like to see a college level version. Maybe start 10,000 BC and take like half an hour. But then again, I have an attention span larger than your average gnat.

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40. Comment #382991 by notsobad on May 29, 2009 at 11:40 am

stupid map, everything in religious colours

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41. Comment #383004 by ericcolumba on May 29, 2009 at 12:35 pm

I included a speeded up version of this in a video I made, I'll post it here if anyone wants a look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZluiHkv9Mk

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42. Comment #383009 by fan_of_dawkins on May 29, 2009 at 12:54 pm

To suggest that the birth of Krishna led to the beginning (or increased prevalence) of Hinduism is very inaccurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna

It is quite strange that some people know so little about "Hinduism", yet try and draw parallels with Abrahamic religions. (I am not suggesting that Hindu mythology is true or that any gods are "special"). It would be great if the person referencing about something has his/her information accurate.

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43. Comment #383067 by artisfact on May 29, 2009 at 5:14 pm

And like creeping death, it spreads...

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44. Comment #383154 by weavehole on May 30, 2009 at 8:03 am

I have pages of notes lying around somewhere outlining a similar educational tool but one that would be heavily interactive. Think google earth but with the key ingredient of being able to move in 'all' 4 dimensions. The student would select a subject and pick a date in history and find out what was happening in that field anywhere in the world.

Subjects would only be limited by our imagination. You could look at the battle of Kursk or Waterloo unfolding before your eyes at any speed you liked. Then see how it connected with the overarching 'story' around it. You could watch the spread of homo sapiens over tens of thousands of years or the spread of HIV over decades.

Want to search for correlations between literacy rates and infant mortality or attendance at football matches? As easy as watching empires grow and fade.

I guess we're pretty much at the point where processing power has caught up with my 18 year old idea. Anyone with a few hundred thousand quid spare to bankroll my idle dream would be fairly appreciated.

:)

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45. Comment #383256 by OfHuman on May 30, 2009 at 2:54 pm

Buddha was born 500 years before christ.

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46. Comment #383485 by PERSON on May 31, 2009 at 3:54 pm

"45. Comment #383154 by weavehole on May 30, 2009 at 8:03 am"
Google Earth 5 already allows overlay layers with bitmaps and 3d data, and supports a time dimension. I've not seen the two combined, but I'd be surprised if it's not possible. Have a look on the Google Earth example pages. There's one for world-wide fuel consumption (or similar), though I think that's for a particular point in time.

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47. Comment #383915 by rddbug on June 2, 2009 at 6:37 am

The "Encyclopedia of Wars" (New York: Facts on File, 2005) was compiled by nine history professors who specifically conducted research for the text for a decade in order to chronicle 1,763 wars.
The survey of wars covers a time span from 8000 BC to 2003 AD.
From over 10,000 years of war 123, which is 6.98 percent, are considered to have been religious wars.

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48. Comment #383939 by Ed-words on June 2, 2009 at 7:21 am

Rddbug #48

Only 7% were religious wars? What were the
criteria? How about the number of religion-
contributing-factor wars?

RD in TGD - -

"- - - look carefully at any region of the world where you find intractable enmity and violence between rival groups - - - (It's a
very good bet) you'll find religions as the dominant labels for in-groups and out-groups."

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49. Comment #386851 by weavehole on June 11, 2009 at 6:29 am

Thanks PERSON I'll check that out once my pooter is back up and running. If there's a program available that does what I envision I'd happily spend hours on it.

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