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Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one god. [1] [2] [3] According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese Folk Religions, is really so, or whether the apparent different objects of worship are to be thought of as manifestations of a singular divinity. [1]
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. [1] In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the universe or life, for which such a deity is often worshipped". [2]
Human reason (and its rigorous extension in the natural sciences) fits an evolutionary niche just as echolocation does for bats and infrared vision does for pit vipers, and is epistemologically on a par with, rather than superior to, such capabilities. The meaning or aliveness of the "objects" we encounter, rocks, trees, rivers, and other ...
Some well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods and the Egyptian gods, and the classical-attested pantheon which includes the ancient Greek religion and Roman religion. [citation needed] Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec gods, and many others.
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with many deities believed to be present and in control of the world.
This process of exaltation means that humans can literally become gods through the atonement; thus, "god" is a term for an inheritor of the highest kingdom of God. [28] To the extent that monolatry is not considered monotheism, the classification of Mormonism as monolatrous is strongly disputed among Latter-day Saints.
Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel and Judah. [1] An ancient Semitic religion of the Iron Age, Yahwism was essentially polytheistic and had a pantheon, with various gods and goddesses being worshipped by the Israelites. [2]
Polytheistic and animistic systems of belief make no such distinction; gods and other beings of transcendent power often have complex, ignoble, or even incomprehensible motivations for their acts. Note that while the terms demon and demonic are used in monotheistic faiths as antonyms to divine , they are in fact derived from the Greek word ...