"Born as a child, so we could live as men"- truly the purpose of all world religions, to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization through progressively spiritualized humans. Historically, one can see the pattern:
Hinduism: the Indus River civilizations
Judaism: the Hebrew monarchy, esp. the reign of King David
Zoroastrian: the Persian Empire
Buddhist: the Mauryan Empire of Asoka
Christian: the Byzantine Empire
Islam: the Saracen Empire
Baha'i: working toward unification of human race