Well, I don't count gods and gods (small "g") don't count.
But take your pick:
Many Gods, One Humanity
The Anomalous Nature of Religious Diversity
The number of major gods recognized around the world and recorded in world history are in the hundreds.
The number of religions, current and past, centered on these gods, is in the thousands.
The number of lives lost in the attempts to advance or defend religious beliefs is in the millions.
The number of humans negatively affected by this cultural anomaly is in the billions.
There are many real gods
All, or some, of the gods are real. Since they all showed up about the same time, they seem to get along, which is a good thing since they all say they will return about the same time. That time being when man is about to destroy his own race and the world he inhabits. Many gods flying around the planet, staking out their own territory, controlling their own airspace, while scrupulously avoiding and ignoring the other gods, and the territory and air space of those other gods is not logical. Then, there is the problem that only one could be the creator god, only one could be responsible for the flood, only one could have been the savior; to list just a of few of the problems. And, a major problem is that they all claim to be the supreme god, which is, of course, impossible.
· There are no real gods
There is no god and all this controversy has been over nothing. We are then left with absolutely no explanation why so many similar religious beliefs formed in societies completely isolated from each other.
· There is one real God and many false gods
Only one of the gods is real and that god has one chosen people as most of the religions worshipping their individual gods claim. That may be fine for the "chosen" people who are lucky enough to have stumbled upon that one "true" god, but for the others, it is a serious problem. They have been worshipping false gods, and no matter what size the religion of the true god happens to be, the number of non-believers is in the billions. Figuring out if you are lucky enough to be worshipping the right god, at the right time, is the first difficulty. If you didn’t pick the right god you have to wonder how deep in the "Heathen Heap" you will be buried. How do you explain to the real "God" why you dedicated all your time to a false god, while, at the same time, viciously condemning the real one?
· There is one real God being described in different ways, by many different peoples
All or most of the world’s gods are not different gods but different descriptions of the same Supreme God. This concept would mean that everybody is currently being deceived and seems to be blind to the fact that their own religions warn them about this deception. However, since most religions say the evil force would create a complete deception, and their god would allow this, humans, by default, are all innocent. Since everybody was being deceived, nobody be faulted. This concept is the only one that follows logic, puts religious diversity in a realistic perspective, and fits the universal accepted model of loving, fair, and all-powerful God that created the whole world. Would such a God pick only a few to associate with and ignore all the rest, or condemn them for believing a deception he allowed?
Personally I'll go with Number 4, 86 (or more) names; one God
2007-09-10 11:18:31
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answer #2
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answered by johnslat 7
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