# Worshipping the Lesser God **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 23, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204 "2025-10-23T02:17:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/1 "2025-10-23T02:17:02Z")
Are there any religions/sects that _currently_ worship a singular god that is _not_ all-powerful, all-knowing, omni-present and possibly not eternal? No ancient history or pantheons, please. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/2 "2025-10-23T02:27:18Z")
Wouldn’t the various sects of Hindu Gods count? Also, perhaps Wiccan? ---
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/3 "2025-10-23T02:29:49Z")
Do they deny the existence of other gods? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/4 "2025-10-23T02:33:04Z")
What? No one Hindu God is all knowing so compared to monotheistic Gods they are not all powerful or all knowing. * * * I know almost nothing about them, but there are modern worshippers of Thor. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/5 "2025-10-23T02:34:14Z")
But I think you are skipping the “no pantheons” part. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/6 "2025-10-23T02:35:20Z")
So checking my assumptions @Czarcasm, you mean a monotheistic creed whose god (small G in this case) isn’t some flavor of eternal or omnipotent? ---
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/7 "2025-10-23T02:36:21Z")
Pretty much, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/8 "2025-10-23T02:36:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But I think you are skipping the “no pantheons” part. Does “no pantheons” mean “don’t believe in a pantheon” or “don’t worship the entire pantheon”? If the latter, you’ll find folks like that. If the former– “We believe there’s only one God, and frankly they ain’t all that”–I’d be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/9 "2025-10-23T02:37:37Z")
Zorastrianism may fit the bill. Zoroastrians worship a single supreme god, Ahura Mazda, who represents goodness, light, and truth. He is eternal and uncreated, and he is he creator of the material universe. But they also affirm the existence of other supernatural entities, not created by Ahura Mazda, and lesser than him. One of these, Angra Mainyu, reprsenting evil, darkness and untruth, stands as an opposing force or principal to Ahura Mazda. The unfolding history of creation is a continuing struggle between these two entities, which implies that, whatever about being omnisicent and omnipresent, Ahura Mazda is not omnipotent. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/10 "2025-10-23T02:40:27Z")
The former. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/11 "2025-10-23T02:42:24Z")
[Limited Theism/Theistic Finitism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_finitism) may fit the bill: > **Theistic finitism** , also known as **finitistic theism** or **finite godism** , is the belief in a [deity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deity "Deity") that is limited.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_finitism#cite_note-Geisler_1989-1)[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_finitism#cite_note-2) It has been proposed by some philosophers and theologians to solve the [problem of evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil "Problem of evil"). Most finitists accept the [absolute goodness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibenevolence "Omnibenevolence") of God but reject [omnipotence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence "Omnipotence").[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_finitism#cite_note-3) It appears to be a position more common among philosophers than regular churchgoers, so i don’t know if it qualifies as a “sect,” but philosophy majors notoriously have a hard time getting sects anyway. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/12 "2025-10-23T02:45:03Z")
You are definitely going to Heck for that one. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/13 "2025-10-23T03:10:38Z")
I used to make an argument along those lines in my younger years: I could get a god that was omnipotent, omniscient, or omnibenevolent, but not all _three_. And it wasn’t worth worshipping one that was only two of the three. Anyway, depending on values of “worshipping” Pastafarianists should qualify, as the FSM is absolutely a flawed creator, deliberately screwing with the creation that he screwed up after creating it on a bender. It probably doesn’t _count_ because even the most rapid followers of the FSM I know don’t take his noodliness seriously, but can and do worship. I can’t evaluate the quality of their faith objectively any more than that of a more commonly structured faith. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/14 "2025-10-23T10:49:53Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It appears to be a position more common among philosophers than regular churchgoers, so i don’t know if it qualifies as a “sect,” I’ve held this position since long before I so much as took Philosophy 101; it struck me as reasonable then, and it still does now. (I mean, if someone mentioned that they took six days to do something, and then they rested on the seventh, what would _you_ conclude?) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/15 "2025-10-23T13:49:12Z")
Satanism? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/16 "2025-10-23T13:59:19Z")
I am intrigued by the idea of a monotheistic Satanism. “There is no god but God, and He suuuuuuuucckkkkssssss…” ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/17 "2025-10-23T14:05:56Z")
Kim Il Sung and to a lesser extent his son Kim Jong Il and grandson Kim Jong Un have been elevated to ‘God’ or at least ‘God-like’ status through the [Juche ideology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche) of the North Korean government. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/18 "2025-10-23T14:18:49Z")
Hey, you don’t get to be “The Big Guy” unless you’re Numero Uno. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/19 "2025-10-23T14:19:10Z")
As a monotheism, or as an opposing religion? ---
**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:** [October 23, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204/20 "2025-10-23T14:20:31Z")
It is possible to be the “Big Guy” without being bigger than the universe itself. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worshipping-the-lesser-god/1024204.md?page=2)