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 | Anon: "You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image, when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." |
| Rev. Tony Campolo: "We are furious that the religious right has made Jesus into a Republican. That’s idolatry. To recreate Jesus in your own image rather than allowing yourself to be created in Jesus’ image is what’s wrong with politics." |
| Jim W. Martyn, "I suggest that people who express hatred towards others do so because they are unable to love themselves or God. That's sad, and unfortunately causes many of the social and political problems in our nation and world." |
| Stephen Roberts, a strong Atheist talking to a theist: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." |
| Xenophanes, an ancient Greek philosopher: "If horses had Gods, they would look like horses!" |
| See dozens of other quotes about God elsewhere on this site. |
Background:
This website's internal search facilities, show that one of the most popular topics searched for by our visitors is "God". According to David Barrett et al, editors of the "World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200," there are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. 1 Taken together, these religions and faith groups teach the existence of thousands of Gods and thousands of Goddesses and a large number of gender-neutral deities.
Even within the major religions, various traditions or denomination assign very different attributes to their deity/deities thus creating a series of deities often called by the same name.
Obviously, all or almost all of the world's major religions are in error. The probability that any given religion has a correct view of God, Goddess, Gods, Goddesses, or Gods & Goddesses is slim. Of course, the vast majority of believers refuse to accept reality; they are certain that their specific view of God is the only correct one.
In this section, we describe the full range of deities recognized by various religions, including:
| Monotheistic: Followers of Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and other monotheistic religions worship a single indivisible God. |
| Trinitarian: Most Christians believe in a Trinity, consisting of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit -- three persons simultaneously existing in a single deity. Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the United Pentecostal Church, the Pentecostal Assemblies of The World, and other Oneness Pentecostal denominations reject this concept. |
| Goddess worship: This involves worship of a single female deity. |
| Duotheism: Wiccans and many other other Neopagans recognize a male and female deity. Zorastrians believe in an all-good deity and an all-evil deity, similar to conservative Christians. |
| Polytheism: Polytheistic religions like Santeria, Vodun, and others teach of the existence of a pantheon of Gods, and/or Goddesses. |
| Henotheism: Henotheistic religions like Hinduism teach a single deity but recognize other gods and goddesses as facets, forms, manifestations, or aspects of that supreme God. |
We will also describe the four main views of how deities are structured as viewed by different religions, including: Deism, Panentheism, Pantheism, and Theism.
See also our essays linked to our world religion menu for specific beliefs about God as taught by various religions,
Topics covered in this section:
Reference used:
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David Barrett et al, "World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200," Oxford University Press, (2001). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
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Home page > Christianity > Christian personalities > here |
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or Home page > Religious information > here |
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or Home page > Spirituality > here |
Copyright © 2000 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-FEB-18
Latest update: 2007-JAN-11
Author: B.A. Robinson
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