The argument from evil doesn't work with polytheism
If the gods in question were not all powerful and all knowing, evil and suffering can be readily explained by limitations in the gods' power and knowledge. If the god is not omnibenevolent, evil and suffering can be explained by the fact that the god may have no motive to eliminate them. If more than one god exists and conflicts between the gods is possible, then the argument from evil loses nearly all of its force, since the benevolent actions of one god could be countered by the opposite action of another. Traditional polytheism provides no effective targets for the argument from evil coming from atheists. Polytheism is a more straightforward explanation for the world we actually experience than classical monotheism.
Epistemology: Strong vs weak miracles
When monotheists make their case of the truth of their religion, they site as sources of evidence scriptures which they claim are divinely inspired - wonderous events, miracles, and the works of holy people within their experience. Monotheists will dogmatically deny the reality of polytheists or atheists whom they will claim are ignorant. Monotheists may claim polytheists might be delusional, hallucinating, misperceiving, or unfocused.
Strong miracles are events which have a religiously meaningful context and appear to violate the familiar patterns of nature. For example, the earth's rotation stopping for several hours. Miracles in a weak sense are extraordinary coincidences which occur in a religiously meaningful context but follow natural pattens like a successful rain dance. Hume rejected the possibility of strong miracles, claiming that its always more likely that the witnesses to miracles were either mistaken or dishonest. Greer points out that churches that defend strong miracles don't seem to be able to produce them at all in these days, or anytime recent enough to allow for reliable investigation. Atheists have usually focused discussions of miracles on the strong type, and often as not leave the weak type of miracle entirely out of the reckoning. Polytheists don't believe in strong miracles, but they are moved by natural patterns which overlap with a meaningful sacred context. Therefore, they are hardly subject to atheist criticism.
Religious ineffability
A very common term for this quality of religious experience is ineffability - that is, beyond words to describe. But this usually refers to verbal language. There are at least some unusual experiences that may not lend themselves to verbal description, but they can be described mathematically. For example, the realm of quantum physics might be ineffable in terms of the English language, but it can be discussed very clearly in the language of mathematics. Because most monotheists are not professional scientists, they would have no way of knowing this.
Monotheist and polytheist ethics
Christianity and Judaism are profoundly conflicted by the human capacity for pleasure. The gratification of the senses is carefully weighed, if not forbidden entirely. For monotheists, a lack of Judeo-Christian faith leads straight to immorality, and "pagan" orgies. Monotheistic rhetoric for well over 2,000 years has treated pagan religion as though it were inseparable from sex. But the sexual behavior of Christian fundamentalist pastors over the past 50 years can be seen as a projection of their own unresolved sexual problems. On the other hand, pagan art uses the unclad human body to symbolize its superabundant beauty. Pagan thought sees erotic desire and delight as expressions of divine power.
The moral teachings of western monotheisms commonly define morality in terms of what it excludes. Monotheistic traditions see morality as telling people what to do. The purpose of sacred engagement for monotheism is appeasement of God or renunciation of sin. For polytheism the purpose of sacred engagement is participation with the spirits in recreating the world.
Pagan morality is a quest for wholeness and balance, not what it excludes. For pagans there are at least four levels of morality:
- Intention of the self;
- The values of the community;
- The processes of nature; and
- Purposes of the gods
In contrast to being externally driven, moral thought in most traditional polytheist faith is inner directed, a process of a person mulling over options between the four levels above and making the best available choice.
The gods of paganism may do many things, but they don't preach. In order to work these problems out, literature of ancient pagan cultures include a legacy of ethical writings ranging from the Norse Ha'vama'l; the Irish Audacht Morainn, as well as the works of the great moralists of Greek and Roman pagan traditions. Lastly, the moral principles upheld by different gods would not be absolute. The moral argument can be used to least as effectively to support a belief in many gods as it would be to defend a belief in only one.
Monotheist rejection of myth for history
When the Hebrews signed on to the covenant with Yahweh, they were told that there would be no more mincing around with the plants and animals. They had a separate destiny. Their destiny was not in nature but in history. Mythic storytelling was dismissed as part of pagan superstition. Humanity's job was to make human history according to God's will. But the tendency to make myths wasn't so easy to dispense with. Jews and Christians continued to live under myths but they did so behind their own backs. They continued to build up new myths as they were joined by European philosophers, scientists, and capitalists, as we shall see.
Monotheist Myth of Progress is a myth to be overcome
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