If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. References in the Epic of Gilgamesh and elsewhere to the priestesses of Ishtar as sacred prostitutes indicate the tradition of hieros gamos, in which the king or other representatives of the male principle would engage in sexual acts with the priestesses as representatives of Ishtar in a tradition designed to propitiate the fertility of crops, livestock, and human beings. In the royal collection of cuneiform literature-made by King Assur-bani-pal of Assyria (668-626 B.C.E.) and deposited in his palace at Nineveh-the omen collections connected with the astral theology of Babylonia and Assyria form the largest class. On the ethical side, the religion of Babylonia more particularly, and to a less extent that of Assyria, advances to noticeable conceptions of the qualities associated with the gods and goddesses and of the duties imposed on man. In Luke 8, Jesus asks for his name, and the man responds, “Legion: because many devils were entered into him.” Jesus cast the devils out of the man and into a herd of swine.

These religions were brought to Indonesia around the second and fourth centuries, respectively, when Indian traders arrived on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi. The traders also established Buddhism in Indonesia, which developed further in the following century and a number of Hindu and Buddhist influenced kingdoms were established, such as Kutai, Srivijaya, Majapahit, and Sailendra. Religion plays a major role in life in Indonesia, which has the largest population of Muslims in the world. Animist areas in eastern Indonesia, on the other hand, were the main focus Dutch conversion efforts, including Maluku, Nusa Tenggara, Papua and Kalimantan. The influence exerted by the Babylonian-Assyrian religion was particularly profound on the Semites, while the astral theology affected the ancient world in general, including the Greeks and Romans. Indonesia provides its five major religions with constitutional protections and guarantees thereby offering a progressive model of religious harmony in the Muslim world. Local Traditions and World Religions: The Appropriation of “Religion” in Southeast Asia and Beyond. In many of the traditions embodied in the Old Testament, traces of direct borrowing from Babylonia may be discerned: For example, the story of Noah’s flood (Epic of Gilgamesh) and the creation account of the early verses of Genesis (Enuma Elish).

Before the arrival of the Abrahamic religions of Christianity and Islam, the popular belief systems in the region were thoroughly influenced by dharmic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Because Confucianism was not one of the state recognized religions at the time, many Chinese Indonesians were also converted to Christianity. Originating from farming communities throughout the Mexican state of Oaxaca, the people traded with Mayan and Teotihuacan Olmec civilizations and flourished in part due to their smartly placed capital, which overlooked three vital valleys. In fact, in 2003 Arvind Borde, Alan Guth, and Alexander Vilenkin were able to prove that any universe which is, on average, in a state of cosmic expansion cannot be eternal in the past but must have an absolute beginning. Political parties based on moderate and tolerant Islamic interpretations have had significant, but not dominant success in the national parliamentary elections in 1999 and 2004. Hardline Islamist parties, however, have had little electoral success. The dominant Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms of the time, such as Majapahit and Sriwijaya, were in decline and the numerous Hindus and Buddhists mostly converted to Islam, although a smaller number, as in the notable case of Hindus emigrating to Bali, moved off Java and Sumatra.

Parts of Sumatra were also missionized, most notably the Batak people, who are predominantly Protestant today. Traditionally, Muslims have been concentrated in the more populous western islands of Indonesia such as Java and Sumatra. Many people have fond memories of Shrek, but originally, the word “ogre” referred to man-eating giants from French folklore. This book shows that the speciality coffee industry needs people who devote their lives to coffee. Marduk, the supreme deity, was portrayed as the one who set the celestial bodies in their places and ruled over them all. Palenque, a Maya city in modern-day Mexico, is known for its soft limestone sculpture and the incredible burial of Pakal, one of its kings, deep inside a pyramid. With this accomplished, it was also possible to foretell what events were portended by the position and relationship to one another of sun, moon, planets, and certain stars. First, there was one supreme God, whom they called Jupiter, which simply means “God the Father” (from Diu and Pater). There are, however, a number of verses that describe people praying in private, which may offer a clue.