Is There a Single God?
6 Since the dominant religions of the day are monotheistic (Christianity, Islam and Judaism), the answer is typically: yes. 2As well as these three, Sikhism, Rastafarianism and Baha i are also monotheistic.
3Not all mainstream religions are monotheistic though. 4Hinduism is a major mainstream religion, but it is most definitely a polytheistic one, with a very large pantheon of gods as well as goddesses. 5Most ancient religions were also polytheistic. 6Buddhism stands out as an oddity, as its adherents do not believe in a god at all.
7Christianity, Islam and Judaism technically worship the same god, so don t truly represent three completely separate religions. BIn fact, in terms of the number of religions, the concept of having just one god isn t that widespread.
Polytheistic View
9Even religions with many deities can have a single-god-force concept behind them. 1OHinduism is a prime example of this. 11Even though there are hundreds of distinct gods in the faith, Hindus believe that Brahman is the single god-force that controls the universe. 12This single creator force is usually distant and generally not worshipped; it is through the individual deities that believers connect to him. 13The religion of Vodou also believes in a single creator known as Bondye, although followers worship individual deities known as the Loa. (14For the sake of this argument, any religion that operates with a multitude of deities will be considered fundamentally polytheistic rather than monotheistic.)
15Shinto is also polytheistic, going so far as to believe that everything has a spiritual essence (kami), including inanimate objects. 16Any of these kami may be worshipped or prayed to, meaning there are practically an infinite number of gods in existence.
17Most polytheistic religions believe deities embody different qualities and characteristics, which creates a more orderly way of seeing the world and offers more tailored ways of communicating with the Divine. 1BFor instance, when one needs assistance with marriage or romance, a plea could be made to the god (or goddess) of love, or rituals to the gods of healing could be performed when one is sick. 19Many natural phenomena are also said to be gods (thunder, earthquakes, the sun) because early people needed a way to explain the things around them that were otherwise a mystery. 2OEither that or they knew something we don t.
Single God but Still Jealous
21The scriptures of all three monotheistic holy books have clear statements that their God is the one true god. 22Here are some from the Bible, the Quran and the Torah respectively.
“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord is a jealous God. (Exodus 34:14)
“I am God, there is no other God but me. You shall worship me and observe the Salat prayer to commemorate me. (Sura 20:14)
“You shall fear YHVH your God; Him alone shall you worship, to Him you shall hold fast and by his name you shall swear (Devarim 10:20)
23They claim that there is only one god – their god; however, there appears to be a great deal of concern about a competition they say does not actually exist. 24Within Christianity, God is well known to be jealous of the worship of other gods. 251n fact, the Bible describes God as being jealous on many occasions, as well as prescribing the punishment for disobedience. 261slam doesn t go quite as far in describing Allah s anger at defiance.
27Again, the jealousy seems to be a mechanism intended to instil fear into the hearts of believers and persuade them to shun other religions. (280f course, most are told that they worship a different god from the others, the intention of the leaders of the faith being to retain followers and grow membership.)
29Christians often explain away the jealous references by the vague notion that an all-powerful God deserves our undivided worship and has the right to be jealous if we turn our backs on him. 30That is a justification rather than an explanation, particularly since this is a negative human emotion, rather than that of an all-powerful being.
The One True Path
31A secondary part of this debate is whether or not any one religion is the only true path. 32Religions that have a single god tend to be adamant that their belief system is the one true faith, and they consider other religions to be wrong or false. 330ddly enough, this includes each of the three Abrahamic religions even though they fundamentally worship the same God.
341s it all just a power play to create as narrow a view of God as possible in order to reduce the possibility of followers straying? 351t does seem a little odd that most religions with one god are so forceful in their insistence of being the only true religion as well.
36There is no such concept in Hinduism. 37Hindus do not feel that their religion is better; they accept that any path to God is fine.
38Not all polytheistic religions have held this viewpoint though. 39The ancient Greeks were not as accommodating even though they were staunchly polytheistic. 401t was typical policy in ancient Greece to punish people who did not worship their gods (specific deities may have varied by region or city), but that was more a matter of civil obedience, as they also believed that the gods would punish a city that did not worship and give sacrifice to them. 41They wanted to keep the gods happy in order to stave off any natural disasters. 42They didn t claim that other gods did not exist, but simply stated that you should not worship them. 43This made it somewhat less exclusionary than the modern monotheistic religions.