List of founders of world religions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following figures are believed to have founded or inspired major beliefs or to have been the first codifiers or best known proponents of older known religion or traditions. In some cases, little or nothing is known of the figures; the dates are conjectures and some historians doubt that the founder, as described, ever existed.

Name of prophet or founder	Religion or belief	Dates of prophet's or founder's life
Adam	considered first prophet by Abrahamic religions	unknown
Abraham	considered a prophet by Abrahamic religions	unknown, possibly circa 2000 BCE.
Zoroaster	Zoroastrianism	unknown, 1800 BCE or earlier
Rishabha	claimed as the first Tirthankara in Jainism and an avatara in Hinduism	unknown, possibly circa 1700 BCE.
Moses	considered a prophet by Abrahamic religions	dates unknown, estimates range from ca. 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE
Numa Pompilius	Roman king who codified and organized the Roman religion	ca. 717 BCE-673 BCE
Mahavira	The final (24th) Tirthankara in Jainism	599 BCE-527 BCE
Lao Tzu	Taoism	ca. 604 BCE
Buddha	Buddhism	ca. 563 BCE-483 BCE
Confucius	Confucianism	ca. 551 BCE-479 BCE (trad.)
Mozi	Mohism	ca. 470 BCE-390 BCE
Jesus of Nazareth	Christianity; considered as a prophet in Islam and the Baha'i Faith	ca. 4 BCE-ca. 30 CE
Mani	Manichaeism	ca. 210CE-276CE
Muhammad	Islam; considered as a prophet in the Baha'i Faith	ca. 570-632
Nanak	Sikhism	1469-1539
Joseph Smith, Jr.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	1805-1844
Bahá'u'lláh	Bahá'í Faith	1817-1892
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad	Ahmadiyya	1835-1908
Aleister Crowley	Thelema	1875-1947
Gerald Gardner	Wicca & Neopaganism	1884-1964
L. Ron Hubbard	Scientology	1911-1986
Sun Myung Moon	Unification Church	1920

This list should not be construed as anything more than a list of suggestions for further reading and research. Wikipedia takes no position on whether or not these figures existed or "founded" a tradition, or which constitutes a separate religion or tradition. Most of the terms in the title of the article are disputed by one or more of the groups listed.

The term "founder" would be rejected by Muslims, who believe that the first prophet of Islam was the first man, Adam. Founder is also considered an inappropriate term for Jesus, Mahavira, etc.

The term "religion" is also problematic. Whether Confucianism even is a religion is a subject of dispute, see Is Confucianism a religion?.

What constitutes a separate religion is also difficult to judge. Many groups listed here as separate religions do not consider themselves such, but believe their faith the only correct version of older traditions. For example, the Ahmadiyya consider themselves to be followers of Islam, not a separate religion. The Latter Day Saints, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Unification Church consider their respective religions the correct versions of Christianity.

What constitutes "major" has also been disputed.

Finally, it should be noted that absence from this list does not imply that a religion is not major. Hinduism and Shinto, for example, have no single founder.