What do you believe about deities other than your own? Are you atheistic about them, believing that they do not exist? Are you unsure about their existence? Do you believe that they are just avatars of your own deity? Other?
This question came to mind after reading for the umpteenth time that atheism is a religion because they cannot, with absolute certainty, prove that God doesn’t exist. Is this reasoning valid when the shoe is on the other foot?
Predict that many responses will fall into the category of “other religions are valid but based on distorted understanding of the [read: our] truth.” Namby-pamby faux acceptance, in other words.
Clearly, in the OT, there were other gods being worshiped that were not a manifestation of God (the God of Abraham), so I don’t think we can accept that answer across the board from Christians and Jews.
Let’s let them speak for themselves for just a bit before posting preemptive strikes, o.k.?
That is one interpretation, but not the only one currently out there.
I’m not following you. In the OT, those folks worshiping, say, the Golden Calf, weren’t just mistaking the GC for God. The GC was being worshiped as a different god.
I want to know what the source of power for Pharaoh’s sorcerers, who were able to turn staffs into serpents, was. Surely not the God of the Israelites, but it must have been some kind of god.
In the end, does the OT say the other gods are false because they are less/no longer powerful; do not respond to entreaties; or do not exist?
As a Jew, I don’t especially care. (Amateur Barbarian was right to an extent.) The Talmud makes it clear that all righteous people have a place in whatever reward G-d has planned. I have a friend who worships the Norse pantheon. Is he a good person who is kind to the stranger, clothes the naked, feeds the hungry etc and treats others as he would have them treat him? Yes, he is. So, it doesn’t matter which deity he worships.
One of the only bits of glurge I like has Abraham taking a stranger in to his tent and feeding him. Abraham then commands the man to pray to G-d. The man refuses, explaining that he has his own deity. Abraham becomes angry and throws the man out. Later, G-d appears to Abraham and says “I commanded you to feed the hungry. I didn’t say feed them only if they believe in me. Go find that man and apologize.” So Abraham does.
But I’m not asking if there were other gods in the Bible that people worshipped. I’m asking those of the Straight Dope that are religious in nature what they think about the deities that other religions worship, and I’m really hoping to hear what they believe in their own words.
Not what this thread is about.
Hell, even within the Christian tradition, what exactly are angels if not demigods? They have power no mortal has, they don’t age, they can defy the one supreme being so they have their own will.
Which brings forth another point: how many religions feel a need to establish not just superiority but exclusivity, at any price? Do any religions practice proselyting to the level of jihad except for Christianity and its young cousin Islam? Or are most more like Judaism, tolerant of different beliefs that gain the same (humanist) end?
Not necessarily. One view is indeed that the Egyptian sorcerers got power from supernatural beings (whether the gods of Egypt or demons). Another view, as seen in the film Prince Of Egypt, is that they were stage magicians using tricks.
Once again, the topic is the deities of other religions than the one the poster follows. BTW, any quote or set of quotes isn’t going to settle this issue because I didn’t restrict this thread to those that follow the Bible.
How about we attempt to address the point of this thread first?
The church I grew up in would say that other deities either don’t exist or are deceptions of Satan.
Let me try to clear this up: For the Religious: What do you believe about deities other than your own? Not the religions that follow those deities, but the deities themselves. As an atheist, I hate it when others try to tell me what I believe or disbelieve and why, and so I would like to avoid having that happen in this thread when it comes to what the religious believe about other deities. Thank you.
And what do you currently believe?
I’m philosophically agnostic and functionally atheist.