These creeds maintained that the superhuman order governing the world is the product of natural laws rather than of divine wills and whims. The newcomers, such as Jainism and Buddhism in India, Daoism and Confucianism in China, and Stoicism, Cynicism and Epicureanism in the Mediterranean basin, were characterised by their disregard of gods.
During the first millennium BC, religions of an altogether new kind began to spread through Afro-Asia. In fact, however, the religious history of the world does not boil down to the history of gods. This seems obvious to Westerners, who are familiar mainly with monotheistic and polytheist creeds.
Author:Yuval Noah Harari Īll the religions we have discussed so far share one important characteristic: they all focus on a belief in gods and other supernatural entities.
