There are many topics on religion here and in the debate forum as well, it got me thinking. I believe in a Polytheistic system my self, but I was brought up Christian (Episcopalian). I have taken classes in theology in college, and spoken to different priests, rabbis, and other religious leaders as well... and given quite a few of them headaches. I know there is no solid proof in religion, and it's all speculation and what not, but I can still think and ask questions about it even when I believe in different things.

I want to know what others think about this so I made this topic. If "God" dose exist, is he the only God, or are there many different deities and the monotheistic religions just choose to worship that one particular god?

The 10 Commandments say "Thou shalt have no other god but me" but it never said that other gods did not exist.

As far as "God" goes, it is a matter of belief and faith. Most major Monotheistic religions believe in the same god yet worship him in different ways. It is a proven fact that both Christianity and the Muslim faith came out of Judaism. It is believed, because of it's roots and similarities in worship that Judaism actually sprang from ancient Egyptian religion, though that has not yet been proven.

In that case, if it is true, dose that mean that there is more than one god/goddess/powerful being pulling the strings of life?

Hmmm...well I was raised catholic so I was taught to believe that there was only one God...but he's like everything, as strange as that sounds....so he's a man and she's also a woman. I know that sounds really lame, but there is no other way for me to describe it. ^^

You asked for it, Phee. I was raised Jewish, but my connection to my heritage is more via culture than via religion. That is to say, I'm not the typical Jew. My view of religion is, and has been, that too many people follow a religion blindly, taking its beliefs. I took my beliefs, spun them around, and I practice a religion that is of my own "invention," which incorperates Jewish rituals as well as some pagan and Wiccan philosophies.

Such as multiple gods. I mean, each of us has such a different view of God, that if he were to fit all of our beliefs, we would each need a different god. I think that even if you take two people of the same religion, the god they pray to is based on their view of God, and is their God. That said there, my personal God is a gods. I find the mythos and energy, the personality attached to certain classical gods and goddesses to be "right" and familiar for me.

I even go so far in my beliefs to say the Pledge of Alliegance in such a way that suits them..."one nation, under gods..."

@Majinkoz That's ok, I kind of understand where you are going with that. I made the topic to hear other people's ideas and opinions. Being Catholic you have a diffrent view that I do and that's fine. Have you ever thought about it though? becasue i've alwasy been curious my self since I converted to being pagan. If it says thou shalt have no other god but me, dose that mean that "god" accnowledges other gods exists but dose not want his people to worship them?

@Somercy Very well said, and very good point made. I worship a Moon goddess, but there are many forms of moon gods and goddesses, and they all controle diffrent aspects of the moon and of nature and life. so some times it is hard to tell what is what.

Phee: Let's see. How many moon goddesses can I name? Diana, Artemis, Selene, Luna, Hekate, and that's just part of the Greco-Roman system. In Japan, there's a rabbit in the moon, not a man on the moon.

In Jewish belief, the new moon starts the month. That day is sacred to women, whose cycles follow the moon.

Sheitova, a western Europian goddess of battle and blood (and people say there is no connection to women's cycle and mythology heh)

Dear me, I can't think of the name of that one Irish/Celtic goddess who's also a battle-goddess.

I've always found old mythology fascinating, and from what I've learnt of classical theism, I'm inclined to believe that a pantheon of many imperfect deities is probably more plausible than one single perfect being. Though I don't know if I'd consider them worth worshipping; it'd take a lot to convince me to devote my life to any cosmic being. Especially the kind who do things like turn into swans in order to cop off with human women, to take a Greek myth as an example.

well i was raised in the christan faith but i cnverted to wiccan after our four funerals this year i beleive that there is a god but he trapped us in bodys. before he interfered we were all just wandering souls never needing to eat, burn things to keep warm, destroy millions of years of rainforest just to have room to live, or anything like that. we were one with nature and we didnt do anything to harm anyone or nature in any way because we didnt have to so thats just my beleif i dont mean to clash with anyone elses so please dont flame me for beleiving what i do i already have to listen to my parents bitch at me every day

I was raised a baptist christian, but have since moved away from the religion. It caused me so much trouble as far as conflicting beliefs (and the general hypocrisy of various members of the congregation). I've since moved on to a very loose pagan path, one where I follow the flow of nature's energy. I feel more at peace than I did when attending a christian church.

I've been raised atheist, so I really don't believe in it anyway. But, as Splatterdash said, more than one is more plausible. I find it really hard to believe there's one big perfect being somewhere.

But then. I don't believe in more than one either. I have no reason to.

While the idea of gods, goddesses, devils, and other things are interesting.

I personally do not believe them.

I know how the world came to be through science.

But the universe?
I don't know.
But I don't think it was a god.

I wasn't raised in any religon, or as an atheist. After some research about different religions, now regard myself as a Polyethist.
I believe in many Gods and Godesses, with Gaea and the traditional 'God' of christian religions, as the most supreame, and many others in different degrees of importance under them.

My philosophy is not compleatly religous, as i first and foremost believe in science as the creator of the world, not any God or Goddesses.

I believe what God was trying to say was one was not allowed to worship something or someone like a god. Like in the Ten Commandments when the people started worshiping the golden calf/cow and God got pissed. XD...that's bad. Anyway, I personally don't believe there are any other gods and that there is only one God up there. Of course there are religions that have more than one god but that's that religion. I don't think God was saying, "You can't worship Zeus because I am the real Father" I believe he was saying, "Do not worship anything or anyone other than Me." Because he is the only God and to worship something else would be a sin. According to Christianity, I'm not trying to convince others that they're wrong I'm just stating what I think God meant. ><;

I'm personally Ditheistic, I believe in a god and a goddess. To go to the point in the first post about the 10 commandments. The original Hebrew (i think) version of the bible actual reads in a beginning, instead of in the beginning which lends credence to there being other gods for other cultures in my opinion.

I was raised Jewish and i had always believed in god. And I still do believe that there is some sort of higher being. I'm just not into the idea of having to follow all the strict rules of a religion, and that God won't love me and care for me unless I do.
Lately I've been steering more towards Zen Buddhism.

Originally Posted by Somercy

Phee: Let's see. How many moon goddesses can I name? Diana, Artemis, Selene, Luna, Hekate, and that's just part of the Greco-Roman system. In Japan, there's a rabbit in the moon, not a man on the moon.

In Jewish belief, the new moon starts the month. That day is sacred to women, whose cycles follow the moon.

I agree - each book in the Daughters of the Moon series opens with a goddess related to the moon.

In china, the Jade Rabbit lives there with this girl who was punished, name 'Sheun Au' (I'm doing it with my pronounciations... >.< so it might be wrong, and it's in cantonese not mandarin) The lunar calendar is also followed in Chinese culture.

I don't think there can be just one god form. In the Young Wizards series of novels, they portrayed the One Power and each of the other Powers of each having more than one identity (sex, age, appearance).

But then again, I don't believe in God or gods.

• I believe that gods and all deities will exist as long as there are some people that still believe in them - something that is influenced from Neil Gaiman's stories.
  I also believe that after death, you will go wherever you believe you will be going. If you believe you'll go to a bad place like Hell, because you committed sins, you will go to some kind of a Hell. Similarly, if you think you deserve Heaven (and maybe a few virgins to go with it), that is where you'll go. I personally am still pondering over either reincarnation or that my spirit, soul or whatever I should call it gets united with nature and all things in it, and that would be a kind of a heaven.
  As I said in the other Religion thread here in the GD, I'm sort of.. open towards all deities, but I don't let it influence my life too much. I don't go making sacrifices or anything, but I sometimes pray to any of them or sing a psalm to calm me down.
  
  By the way, you might be interested in this site I found the other day while searching for some gods, godchecker.com, it has lists of gods and you can search by keywords, names, gender, religion, etc. Very cool. :D

Not to offend anyone, but I think religion is just something people use to help explain what they can't. Along with that, I think it's also used as a backup source for hope or as a tangible thing to make themselves believe that good things can happen and view life in a more optimistic way. It's also a tangible source of comfort for bad times. It would be hard to say, "Oh! Something good will happen!" without having anything to believe in that will make it happen. I think religion is more that then actually praying to a higher being for the sake of doing so just because you're parents are this religious thus you must be of this religion.

That being said, I believe that whether you choose to believe in one or many gods depends on you personally. If you want to put multiple things on multiple tangible sources (such as a god for good rades, or a god for making lots of money/success, etc.) then you can. But if you just want to have one source of relief for everything, then there will be one god.

Also, with so many different religions prclaiming so many different gods, I'm sure there has to be multiple gods. But in the end, it depends on the person and his or her personal beliefs and whether s/he likes to have multiple entities for different things.

I was never raised to have a certain belife in religion. It was and is my own choice. I am A Wiccan. I believe in Multiple gods and goddesses. Though The Two Main are The Earth(or Gaia,Mother Nature,which ever.) And The Horned God. Also the Elements. Earth,Air,Fire,Water. Though I tend to lean towards the Greco-Roman Gods and Goddesses. Which are basically the same in any religion, but with Different names, some with different stories. But I love learning about other religions.

I was raised Christian, but about five years ago I converted to Wiccan. It just makes more sense, the beliefs and such. I read about other religions, and I haven't found one yet that beats out the Wican religion. :3 I just can't believe how awesome and down to earth it is. I really wish they didn't try to get rid of it back in the day. I think if mroe people knew what it really was, there would be many more Wiccans and Pagans in the world. xD