# One God but many religions. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954 "2010-09-16T10:10:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/1 "2010-09-16T10:10:40Z")
What does it tell you ? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/2 "2010-09-16T11:10:13Z")
> [@indian](#): > > **One God but many religions.** > > What does it tell you ? That someone is clueless about religion. Not all religions are monotheistic or even involve the worship of a god, or consider gods to be important. Sounds like the old attempt to project Christianity as not just the One True Way, but as the only imaginable one; to claim that other religions are just relabeled versions of it. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/3 "2010-09-16T11:38:21Z")
That there is a widespread and deep-seated need in people worldwide for an ever-present parental figure which has been mythologised in a variety of ways to fulfil another widespread deep-seated driving force - the thirst for power. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/4 "2010-09-16T11:44:31Z")
This is often used by monotheists proselytizing, to indicate that worshippers of different faiths are all “climbing different sides of the same mountain”. It’s bollocks. ---
**Author:** ![History\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b19c9b/32.png) [@History\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Geek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/5 "2010-09-16T17:06:56Z")
It tells me the best way of gaining control of a people is to co-opt their religious figures and build new mythologies around them. Or that religious people are incredibly unimaginative. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/6 "2010-09-16T18:57:28Z")
It is used when religious people actually don’t believe in or are unable to defend what their religion actually says, and so they dumb down god to a generic figure who hasn’t actually given any commands outside of platitudes, if that. For instance: all religions say you shouldn’t murder those on the inside. That only implies the existence of God if you think people are too stupid to figure this out without divine intervention. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/7 "2010-09-16T19:04:58Z")
I um, I don’t think I understand the question. Perhaps \*\*Indian \*\*will come back and expand on it? ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/8 "2010-09-16T19:28:12Z")
That there is no God. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/9 "2010-09-16T19:42:22Z")
> [@indian](#): > > What does it tell you ? That you figured out the code to make type smaller? That you found a bumper sticker you like? That you like to appear mysterious? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/10 "2010-09-16T19:51:26Z")
It tells me two things: 1. People have a great deal of imagination. 2. People have no imagination. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/11 "2010-09-16T19:58:36Z")
I strongly related it to the scriptural principal, there is one God, but many ‘gods’ ‘gods’ in this usage being people, ideals, concepts worshiped instead of God. Or to put it another way there are many distractions, many traps that ensnare people keeping them divided and not knowing the oneness and unity of God. ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/12 "2010-09-16T20:10:07Z")
Specification. With complex social selection pressures in addition to environmental / geographical. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/13 "2010-09-16T20:14:06Z")
> [@Keweenaw](#): > > Specification. With complex social selection pressures in addition to environmental / geographical. I like this one. Have you ever written for a per-reviewed scientific journal? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/14 "2010-09-16T20:19:53Z")
That Zeus is schizophrenic. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/15 "2010-09-16T20:25:09Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Keweenaw](#): > > > > Specification. With complex social selection pressures in addition to environmental / geographical. > > I like this one. Have you ever written for a per-reviewed scientific journal? If you put two gods in an accelerator and collide them at relativistic velocity, do they break apart into angels or are gods indivisible? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/16 "2010-09-16T20:40:59Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I strongly related it to the scriptural principal, there is one God, but many ‘gods’ > > ‘gods’ in this usage being people, ideals, concepts worshiped instead of God. Or to put it another way there are many distractions, many traps that ensnare people keeping them divided and not knowing the oneness and unity of God. This is entirely true. All of you who refuse to pay proper honor to Athena are doomed to Tartarus. Except **Der Trihs**. She likes him for some reason despite his blasphemy. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/17 "2010-09-16T20:48:36Z")
That a saddening percentage of the world’s population has a very selective logic blindspot. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/18 "2010-09-16T20:49:33Z")
I’ve just started reading this book which attempts to debunk the “one God but many religions” theory. It’s fascinating so far. [God Is Not One](http://www.amazon.com/God-Not-One-World---Differences/dp/006157127X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284670078&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/19 "2010-09-16T20:50:39Z")
That there MUST be a multitude of gods? or maybe none. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954/20 "2010-09-16T20:52:14Z")
That pork chops taste good? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-god-but-many-religions/553954.md?page=2)