I agree with those who claim that the supposed virtues of monotheism have been grossly overrated. Monotheism is actually a rigid pattern for dictatorship and — no matter what its followers say — it stands opposed to any really democratic philosophy. In a nutshell, monotheism demands that you blindly obey one unchallengeable ruler, who admits no discrepancy and casts eternal pains onto dissidents. Its god teaches you that to eat from the tree of knowledge is a sin.
If we say that democracy flourished in polytheistic societies, not among believers of one, powerful, overbearing god, how come we enjoy democracy in the United States of America — a monotheistic country? Because this USA of ours only seems to be a monotheistic country. In fact, it is essentially polytheistic.
Including those self-proclaimed atheistic, most of the countries of the world are one-religion countries, where dictatorships abound. Spanish-speaking countries are a good example. They are Catholic in a notable majority. This means they have only one version of their god, hence they are monotheistic.
In the United States, on the contrary, luckily, no religion is fully practiced by an overwhelming majority. Protestant sects, alone, number way over 200. The “one” god in each of them suddenly becomes a different god. Consequently, we have an unusual phenomenon. In fact, we have hundreds of gods, bearing the same name, but hundreds of gods nonetheless. Therefore, in reality, we are polytheistic, not monotheistic as we are taught to believe.
We must also check out the other non-Christian beliefs that abound in our lands, especially in California. Every kind of worship that exists in the world has a counterpart in the United States, from voodoo to Buddha, Ziva or Krshna, and so on. With so many conceptions of what God is supposed to be, how can we call ourselves monotheistic?
Understanding that most of the countries of the world have one predominant religion (hence they are monotheistic) and we do not have a predominant religion (polytheistic), it will be easier for us to understand why the tendency toward dictatorship is so strong in other places, not here.
If Islam split in hundreds of sects, democracy would be the law of the land in the Arab countries. I would venture to say that if Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland each divided into a few sects, the war would have to end.
It is no secret that monotheistic religions — including Nazism and Communism: one book, one leader — have sparkedL the greatest wars — and still do. I even think that Judaism benefited a lot by splitting into orthodox and liberals. Further splitting will make their religion and their country more flexible, more tolerant (more Tel Aviv than Jerusalem).
The funny thing is that, despite the fact that “America” has more religions than any other country in the world, people abroad think we are heathens. They think we take religion lightly, but they fail to see how easily their religions can spark the worst extremes of fanaticism.
Catholicism exerted a tremendous control in Latin countries, a control that sometimes expresses itself strongly sometimes subtly. Young people in prerevolutionary Cuba grew up thinking that classical music — played on the radio during mournful occasions — were really dirges, because mournful occasions were not a few.
For every anniversary of a dead patriot or for every day of the Holy Week, the people were compelled to listen to classical music all day and night. They were not officially forbidden to listen to lively music, but they had no choice. The Church and of course its followers in key places controlled the radio and they wouldn’t allow lively music — a heresy.
Kids were admonished if they dared to make music of their own or even to tell a joke on Holy Friday. This situation flipped to the other side of the coin, after the Revolution. Then the godless official religion encouraged kids to have fun, dances, and parties in front of churches during the Holy Week just to annoy the parishioners.
Most Middle East religions, including Judaism, Christianity and especially Islam condone a horrendous tendency humans have toward masochism. All pleasures are irrationally considered sins. Pain is morbidly said to be the best way to reach the Heavens — where, paradoxically, they are supposed to enjoy eternal pleasures. Isn’t this an unusual reward for people who were taught all their lives to enjoy pain on earth?
Despite the influence of all these religions, thanks to the ancient Greeks, our American society is basically hedonistic. And we behave as such. We like to have fun, and enjoy life. And why not? It is nothing surprising that our exuberant love for life seems sacrilegious in the eyes of those fanatics who exult pain and suffering, martyrdom and sacrifice.
Understand this basic difference between love for pleasure and love for pain and you will understand Khomeini and his blind followers, priests of the dark side of the force, who probably inherited their love for pain from centuries of tortures so common in their Persian history.