Ancient scroll may reveal origin of monotheistic religious beliefs. Before there was God, there were Gods.

A collection of charred scraps kept in a Greek museum's storerooms are all that remains of what archaeologists say is Europe's oldest surviving book _ which may hold a key to understanding early monotheistic beliefs.

More than four decades after the Derveni papyrus was found in a 2,400- year-old nobleman's grave in northern Greece, researchers said Thursday they are close to uncovering new text _ through high-tech digital analysis _ from the blackened fragments left after the manuscript was burnt on its owner's funeral pyre.

The scroll contains a philosophical treatise on a lost poem describing the birth of the gods and other beliefs focusing on Orpheus, the mythical musician who visited the underworld to reclaim his dead love and enjoyed a strong cult following in the ancient world.

The Orpheus cult raised the notion of a single creator god _ as opposed to the multitude of deities the ancient Greeks believed in _ and influenced later monotheistic faiths.

"In a way, it was a precursor of Christianity," Pierris said. "Orphism believed that man's salvation depended on his knowledge of the truth."

Veleni said the manuscript "will help show the influence of Orphism on later monotheistic religions."

One of my frustrations in talking with people who believe in Christianity is the fact that the historical record shows that Judaism, the religion that Christianity branched off from, is really only about 4,000 to 5,000 years old. Before that religions were mostly Animism, Druidism, or polytheistical in nature.

The bible tells the faithful that God was there in the beginning, but if he was he was too shy to make himself known. The major religions that cropped up before Judaism were home to a pantheon of Gods. Zeus, Posiedon, Raa, Huitzilopochtli, Isis, Thor, Ilmatar, Venus, and many, many more were the Gods of choice before Yahweh was first worshipped by the so called "chosen"people.

To believe in any religion is to reject tons of historical data and place your faith in only one version of man's creation at the expense of a wealth of fascinating knowledge.

If you are curious about just how many other Gods have held sway over your ancestors then take a look here.

And if your minister frowns on your interest in this subject then ask yourself what he has to lose? Why would information about other religions endanger your religious beliefs?