In online alternate history I've come into several examples of pagan polytheist religions becoming, well, pseudo-mainstream in the sense they're not just for cultures about to get steamrolled through writing down and codifing the oral tradition- the Norse Vinalanders in Doug Hoff's Empty America, and the Yoruba religion mentioned in Tripartite Alliance Earth.
Does anyone else think other pagan/polytheist religions could have become more widespread with the help of literacy, and possibly, at least one powerful nation supporting it? Evangelizing/prosyletizing is not a required aspect. Hindus aren't particularly missionary-minded, at least not as much as Abrahamic faith followers, and they only have about two countries predominantly Hindu, yet it's still considered one of the big five of religions.
The only one that springs to mind is Mongol State Religion. Yes, the Mongols were remarkably tolerant religiously, but they still had a distinct worship of Tengri, lord of heaven. The only question is if Tengri-worship was together enough to be codified and widespread. Of course, I'm not asking for pagan religions to become one of the major faiths, just enough so people can point it out and say, "yeah, they have an organized religion, not a subsect, cult, shamanism, or animism" on the level of Sikhism or so in OTL.
Does anyone else think other pagan/polytheist religions could have become more widespread with the help of literacy, and possibly, at least one powerful nation supporting it? Evangelizing/prosyletizing is not a required aspect. Hindus aren't particularly missionary-minded, at least not as much as Abrahamic faith followers, and they only have about two countries predominantly Hindu, yet it's still considered one of the big five of religions.
The only one that springs to mind is Mongol State Religion. Yes, the Mongols were remarkably tolerant religiously, but they still had a distinct worship of Tengri, lord of heaven. The only question is if Tengri-worship was together enough to be codified and widespread. Of course, I'm not asking for pagan religions to become one of the major faiths, just enough so people can point it out and say, "yeah, they have an organized religion, not a subsect, cult, shamanism, or animism" on the level of Sikhism or so in OTL.