Is anyone here a polytheist?

Question

I was just wondering if anyone here is a polytheist?

I am an atheist, but I find Hellenic polytheism really fascinating and was wondering if their are any polytheists on this board?

If you are, what type of polytheist are you? Hellenic, Wicca, Ásatrú?

And before people start saying I am mocking them, I'm not. I am truely fascinated by all religions (I even go to a Catholic school), I just haven't found one I believe in.

And another question - does ayone here believe that Christianity is polytheistic as they worship the holy trinity (i.e., God - in 3 seperate forms)?

And please can nobody start insulting other people's religions - everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions.

Thanks for your answer, ultraviolet1127 - may I ask what is a pantheon?

Thanks - I thought Christianity was polytheistic, it just seems that Christians have a hard time admitting it is.

Yes, I know that most Christians believe that God is one 'being', but isn't it polytheistic if that one 'being' represents itself in 3 forms, i.e., poly = many.

Answer 1

I work with several different dieties but really any pantheon. A pantheon is a collection or family of dieties from the same culture. A couple of mine are Celtic but most are Saxon, one's even an American.
I would say that Christianity is polytheistic. Jesus has a distinctly different personality from God, so they're two different beings even if they are two different aspects. The Triple Goddess is an example of this. She is the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. They may all be the same being, but are all also different. Some Hindu gods are like that too. Dagda, a Celtic god, is said to have 12 different 'parts' to Himself.

Answer 2

Yep polytheistic Ásatrúar. Most people engaged in a reconstructed path tend to take the "hard" polytheistic viewpoint since the people who's spiritual lives are being reconstructed also took that viewpoint.

I personally see the Christian trinity as a pantheistic viewpoint or "soft" polytheistic viewpoint since although the three members of the trinity, Yeshua, God and the Holy Spirit are apparently seperate they are all considered facets of the same single entity. Of all the forms of Christianity Roman Catholicism is by far the most polytheistic as they revere not only the unified trinity but also Saints and Angels as seperate individual entities.

Answer 3

I'm an Asatruar and most of us, myself included, are Polytheists. Christianity's alledged Monotheism is very different from the much more "hard-core" Monotheism of Judaism and Islam. Christianity has absorbed lots of Pagan influences. Saints, guardian angels etc. function as Demigods. I've known Catholics who pray TO as well as for their favorite dead ancestors. Most Paganisms feature something of that sort, in my experience anyway. For the Polytheist, many of the problems Atheists, Agnostics, etc. have with religious belief don't pop up. The Universe is evolving, not fallen, and the same is true of us humans as we are a part of it. For that matter, it works for the Gods as well. They didn't create the Universe; It created THEM. We don't think the Gods are all-knowing and all-powerful either. Plenty smarter and more powerful than us, and very good friends to Humanity, but the difference between them and us is one of degree rather than of kind. We don't expect perfection from them or from us, but everyone should use what we have to develop as human beings and to be honorable people. We aren't the slaves or toys of our Gods, either. They need us about as much as we need THEM! It's a symbiosis. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

Yes, I'm a polytheist. I'm an Norse Heathen - an Asatruar.

Maybe you should look into pantheism. It's a middle way between atheism and pagan virtues and qualities with a deep respect to Nature.

Christianity, (especially Catholicism) with their worshipping the trinity, Mary, saints, the pope, the cross and whatever else, are just about as pagan and icon-worshipping as it ever gets. They just don't admit it.

Answer 5

Not all Wiccans/Neo-Pagans are polytheists. I don't know the statistics, though, but many Wiccans/Neo-Pagans believe that all the Gods and Goddesses of various pantheons are just variations-- personifications-- of one Higher Power, like many individual facets of a single jewel. That Higher Power has a masculine side and a feminine side, but like the yin/yang symbol, those are two sides of a single coin.

I think Christians view the trinity in the same light.

Answer 6

I am a Pagan and a polytheist. I believe that the Gods choose us, and most of the Gods of my personal pantheon are Greek, though I am not opposed to honoring Gods outside of the Greek Pantheon should one reveal himself to me. My religion is experiential, experimental, and eclectic. I am a "hard polytheist' which means that I believe the Gods to be separate and individual entities.

Answer 7

Yes, I'm a life-long polytheist. It's just never made much sense to me that in our many universes that there is only one deity. I believe in many individual gods and goddesses--both known and unknown. I don't believe that all gods have an interest in the affairs of humans. I can't conceive of the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-positive or all-negative deity. Since there isn't anything else in nature that is all-positive or all-negative, I just can't understand the concept.

I follow a Celtic Reconstructionist path. For more info:
http://paganachd.com/faq/index.html

I don't know enough about Christianity to say anything about it.

Answer 8

I don't know that there's any good category for my own personal theism: it seems at times to cover everything from atheism to monotheism to polytheism in some form or other.

I believe there is one Divine Essence. If you want to call that Essence "God," that's fine. I believe that Essence is what all the mystics of the ages have been striving towards; and to me it is most fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

But I also believe in the existence of many pagan deities. I've grown up in an environment where it's hard to disbelieve in the ancient Hawaiian gods and goddesses. But I think of them as spiritual beings, powerful in their own way, but not for me the full manifestation of the Divine. I respect them but do not worship them or follow them, if that makes sense?

Peace to you.

Answer 9

I am currently an Eastern (not Roman) Catholic with a growing interest in Asatru. So I may be moving in the direction of polytheism. As far as Christianity goes, it is monotheistic. You could say that Odin is the same in his ability to shape-shift. He may take different forms, but is still the one and only Odin. The concept of the Holy Trinity (one God, three Persons or Natures) is the hardest concept to grasp in Christianity. This is why I moved away from Roman Catholicism to Eastern Catholism (there are actually 26 separate Catholic churches, all in communion with Rome and the Pope/Bishop of Rome). The Roman church (RC) tends to rely on scholasticism - attempting to explain every detail, doctrine , and dogma. When dealing with an infinite God, this is impossible. Even St. Thomas Aquinas, who "founded" scholasticism, stated on his deathbed that all his work "was for nothing" when compared to the reality of his God. In the East (including Orthodoxy) the theoogical approach is called apophatic, or negative theology. It's easier to explain what something is not than what it is if it's supposed to be infinite and beyond full human comprehension.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is praying to God the Father "let them (humanity) be one as You and I are one". And the Holy Spirit is said "to proceed from the Father", with the Father as the creative power and source of all.

In Christianity (RC, EC, and Orthodoxy), there are 3 levels of "worship" - dulia, or veneration, which is for the saints (and they are just examples of how to follow the Gospel, nothing more or less - friends to cheer us on while on our life's path), hyperdulia, or higher veneration, which is reserved for the Mother of God (Mary) alone, and adoration, which is true worship and for God alone. I would think Asatru would parallel this arrangement by our ancestors being like the saints, examples of living out the Nine Noble Virtues, and us asking for their assistance in carrying this out; possibly Frigga or the Tree of Life in place of the Mother of God, and adoration reserved for the AllFather or a diety that a believer has a special devotion to (i.e. as a warrior I am drawn to Tyr and Thor, as well as Odin).

I hope this lengthy reply is of some help, and blessings be upon you in your spiritual/intellectual quest. We are all looking for Truth, and we find it in different places and ways.

Answer 10

Asatru heathen - I believe the gods and goddesses are separate and individualistic, not aspects of a cosmic force.

Christianity - no. Because they truly believe that the son is the father is the ghost and not aspects of the same deity. A small detail but one they will argue over with pagans until the end of time. They believe there is only one god.