Do different religions prove that either there is no god or more than one ?
Clearly, I don’t think the fact that there are different religions “proves” anything other than that there are different belief systems–kind of a self-defining statement, I’d admit. A similar question might read, “Does the fact that there are different takes on who killed JFK prove that more than one person did it?” Obviously not.
Not to corrupt your original question, but a slightly different approach might prove more interesting in terms of discussion. For instance, how mutually exclusive are the major world religions? Or perhaps, some sort of functional approach: If religion is simply an artifact created by humans in an attempt to answer big questions (obviously this point itself is debateable), then why did some people come up with monotheism, others with polytheism and others with a non-theist religion?
Because God’s got a wicked sense of humor.
Perhaps I’ll beat Mr. Brian Bunnyhurt to the finish line here and say: for the same reason there are so many different form of government!
We all know, of course, that there is only one god–he is the sun god, Ra! Ra! Ra!
I see three posibilities:[ol][li]All (or several) religions are partly true - Either each sees different aspects of one or more of the true gods or each has its own private little set of gods.[]Exactly one religion is true - As many gods (zero to whatever) as the One True religion specifies[]No religion is true - Which says nothing about the number of gods. [/ol]Each case allows one or more gods and only the first requires any gods at all.[/li]
So, the existence of different religions says nothing about the existance of god (or gods).
There are lots of different people. Different systems fulfill them.
And a simple view to take on the “no or more than one” question, I think it “proves” that people are different and all search for truth in different ways, finding pieces of it.
Religion is human made to make people’s lives fuller and richer. There are lots because there are lots of people.
My thinking is along similar lines to Medea’s Child’s, but I’d say it a little differently.
People make stuff up as they go along. Fred didn’t hear the story Barney made up, so he made up a different one. They both may be trying to find ways to explain what they percieve as “the truth”, and different methods lead to different results.
I don’t think religion is made to make human life fuller and richer, though. Rather, I think it is an attempt to explain and come to terms with the richness and fullness that is already there.
M’s Child and tourbot seem to be implying that no religion is factually speaking about super-beings.
Hmmm. Looks like brian may have some new allies…
For the same reason two dozen people see two dozen different things when they’re looking at the clouds.
“There were six men of Indostan…”
(The Blind Men and the Elephant)
Well, “proof” is a rather strong word.
I’ll agree that the observation that there are many vastly different religions (some 5000, IIRC), with quite a few of them having belief systems echoing those of the cultures that spawned them, certainly has profound implications that undermine any claim to truth or sacred origin.
Personally, I’m quite curious as to whether the other species on this planet have religion too - say, among dolphins and chimps. I would suspect that if they do, then their GODS are anthropomorphized to their own species just as ours are.
People enjoy having a religion to explain that which they can’t understand, but there’s no particular reason why different religions created by people in different areas should be even remotely simiar, not as I see it anyway. The main similarity between most religions (though not all) is a supreme being or beings who is/are responsible more creation, maintenance, and eventual destruction of the world. However, this leaves a lot of leeway to people who are devising a religion.
I agree with Thrasymachus. Anaximander (Ancient Greek philosopher) once said that horses would worship horse-Gods if they could think.
but if there is one god and you have to be in the ‘right’ religion to go to heaven then why would god allow there to be other ones ?
Why would ONE god try confuse everyone ?
He doesn’t confuse us; it’s the devil. God could stop him, but that would somehow interfere with our free will. How exactly this is supposed to interfere with free will escapes me, but that’s the arguement.
Your question, however, is based on a false premise. Not all religions believe that you must belong to their religion to get into Heaven. Judaism, for example, does not believe so.
Zev Steinhardt
Judaism says that non-Jews are not bound by the six hundred some odd laws that bind Jews, but I, as a non-Jew, do not have a ticket to heaven. There are still some laws I must follow. The distinction may seem significant to you, here and now, but if I spend eternity weeping, wailing, and gnashing my teeth because I coveted my neighbor’s ass, the difference between breaking one of several hundred laws and breaking one of less than a dozen laws will not matter to me.
**dude wrote:
Do different religions prove that either there is no god or more than one ?**
I think it shows there are many different Gods. Consider that beyond the very basic “be nice to each other and don’t do nasty things” the msg. of various religious faiths is quite different.
Christianity say you need be accept Jesus as your savior to enter heaven or to be saved. Buddhist say you need to accept the 8 Noble Truths in order to enter Nirvana. Please note that heaven and Nirvana are quite different. Wiccans say that each lifetime is a lesson to be learned before moving onto another incarnation, with stopping points inbetween lives. You get the idea.
So, either there are several gods or none.
Why are there lots of religions? Because people love to argue.
best case so far