I am beginning to dislike doing religious posts. There is only so many ways I can say "God doesn't exist" and every time someone says "God doesn't exist", God kills a kitten.
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So instead of killing kittens, I am gong to discuss some key differences in monotheism and polytheism and my pussy placating opinions on them.
What are monotheism and polytheism? Monotheism is the belief in one god and one god only. Polytheism is the belief that many gods exist.
If you have read my post on the first cause argument, then you probably can recall that a problem with the existence of a god is the origin of that god. Polytheism gets around that without resorting to the weaselly "He exists outside of time". The origin of the god/s is simply the mother of said god/s. Problem solved. And the origin of the mother of the god is simply another godlke mother, and so forth. Not all polytheistic religions prescribe to this, many of them draw the line a few generations back. I admire the analogy to human lineage and the ingenious belaying of the first cause.
The biggest problem of polytheism though, is not it's plausibility. The scientific side of me says that the existence of a god is equally as probably as the existence of many. No, it is the appeal of monotheism over polytheism that makes polytheism seem weak..
There is a deep seated psychological appeal in one all powerful masculine god. One divine bloke, that has absolute power over your destiny. One bloke that can solve all your problems in a heartbeat, all He asks is you to follow the rules of His universe and love Him as much as He loves you. Sound familiar? That was my father when I was 5 years old. All Powerful and All Knowing.
This isn't a new concept, many other writers before me have sagely pointed out the similarities of a monotheistic god and a child's interpretation of his/her own father.
In puberty, our god is shattered as we find out that our fathers are not omniscient and omnipotent. We are fatherless and that's where god comes in.To fill in that paternal void. For all you religious gurus out there, I pray that you are not offended. I couldn't ignore the obvious.
Polytheistic religions try to fill this void too, but when there are other gods on the scene, the "father" god seems less important, less omnipotent and less unique.
Again, this doesn't affect the plausibility of polytheism. However, people do not believe in gods out of scientific plausibility. We believe in gods out of emotion and personal thoughts, needs and desires, which makes monotheism by far the most believable.
