Topic > plays many roles in many different cultures. Most things are based on religion, like in the United States. We rely on Christianity in many different things. In East and Southeast Asia, religion has played an important role in shaping modern history. There are many religions in East and Southeast Asia, including Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, animism, Confucianism, traditional Chinese religion, Shinto, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity. and many others. Hinduism originated in India, then spread to many different places, including Southeast Asia. It gave rise to famous political and religious centers in Angkor and many other places. There are ruins of Wat Angkor and Prebanan Temple in Central Java and many of these countries were ruled by Hindu empires. The decline of Hinduism was mainly due to the fact that other religions were growing rapidly and Hinduism was based on the caste system. It is currently considered one of the oldest religions in the world and its origins date back to the second millennium BC. Today, there are very few Hindus left in Southeast Asia, apart from the island of Bali, Indonesia. Although India was the birthplace of Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Hinduism, the main religion is Hinduism. Since it is the main religion, most Indians vote for Hindu Sheikh, so if you are not Hindu, you will most likely lose the elections because Indians in most cases only vote for Hindu leaders. In Japan they were really happy with Buddhism, but with China they liked Confucianism. There were those people in both who were Christians. Confucianism was widespread in Ming China. Wang Yang-Ming gained many followers for his new teachings, but was heavily criticized for fundamentally changing modern history in South and Southeast Asia. These religions are Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Animism, Confucianism, Traditional Chinese Religion, Shinto, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and many others. Each of them had a small or larger impact, but all together they had a huge impact. Based on research, the top three religions that have had the greatest impact on South and Southeast Asia are Buddhism, then Christianity, and finally Confucianism. Buddhism is taught everywhere in Southeast Asia in schools and there are still many monks around. Christianity is growing by the millions very rapidly and will never stop growing. Finally, Confucianism is also taught in schools like Buddhism and is also very popular. These are the roles that religion has played in shaping the modern history of South and Southeast Asia.