Criticism of monotheism - Wikipedia Criticism of monotheism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Judgement of the ideas, validity, concept or practice of the belief in only one deity This article is of a series on Criticism of religion By religion Baha'i Faith Buddhism Christianity Christian fundamentalism Catholic Anti-Catholicism Protestantism Anti-Protestantism Latter Day Saint movement Mormonism Jehovah's Witnesses Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy Seventh-day Adventist Unification Church Westboro Baptist Church Hinduism Islam Islamism Twelver Shi’ism Wahhabism Jainism Judaism Conservative Judaism New religious movement Scientology Sikhism Yazdânism Zoroastrianism By religious figure Aisha Charles Taze Russell Ellen White Jesus Moses Muhammad Paul the Apostle Saul By text Bible Quran Hadiths Sahih al-Bukhari Mormon sacred texts Book of Mormon Talmud Religious violence Buddhism Christianity Mormonism Judaism Islam Persecution By Christians Sectarian violence Segregation Terrorism Christian Hindu Islamic Sikh Jewish War In Islam In Judaism Related topics Abuse Apostasy In Islam In Christianity Criticism of atheism Criticism of monotheism Sexuality Slavery Superstitions Muslim Jew v t e This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize its key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (September 2016) Criticism of monotheism has occurred throughout history. Mark S. Smith, an American biblical scholar and ancient historian, currently teaching at the Princeton Theological Seminary, wrote that monotheism has been a "totalizing discourse", often co-opting all aspects of a social belief system, resulting in the exclusion of "others".[1] Accusers have painted monotheism as a cause of ignorance, oppression, and violence. Contents 1 Contradictions 2 Forcing one belief 3 Violence in monotheism 4 See also 5 References Contradictions[edit] Through the means of defining, it is traditionally agreed among the major monotheistic religions that the one God is, inter alia, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. However, one scholar argues that "this definition of God [is] contradictory to what has been perceived by us in the empirical world."[2] Some feminist thinkers have criticized the monotheistic concept as the model of the highest form of patriarchal power. They argue that the one god is regarded to be male and opposed to everything related to change, sensuality, nature, feeling, and femininity.[3] Forcing one belief[edit] David Hume. David Hume (1711-1776) argues that monotheism is less pluralistic and thus less tolerant than polytheism, because monotheism stipulates that people pigeonhole their beliefs into one tenet. [4] In the same vein, Auguste Comte argues, "Monotheism is irreconcilable with the existence in our nature of the instincts of benevolence" because it compels followers to devote themselves to a single Creator.[5] Jacob Neusner suggests that "the logic of monotheism ... yields little basis for tolerating other religions". [6] James Lovelock criticized monotheism due to its idea of a transcendent almighty father; he says about monotheism that it "seems to anesthetize the sense of wonder as if one were committed to a single line of thought by a cosmic legal contract".[7] Violence in monotheism[edit] In modern times, ancient monotheism is blamed as the instigator of violence in its early days as it inspired the Israelites to wage war upon the Canaanites who believed in multiple gods.[8] Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan regarded monotheism to be one reason for violence; he said: The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from the time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of the one jealous God are egged on to aggressive wars against people of alien [beliefs and cultures]. They invoke divine sanction for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by Christianity and Islam, and it might not be unreasonable to suggest that it would have been better for Western civilization if Greece had moulded it on this question rather than Palestine.[9] See also[edit] Criticism of religion References[edit] ^ Mark S. Smith, "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts", (August 2001). p. 11. Oxford University Press. (Google Books). ^ Worship as a Hindrance to Self Archived 2008-07-23 at the Wayback Machine ^ Lindsay Jones (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, vol. 9, p. 6161. ^ David Hume argued that unlike monotheism, polytheism is pluralistic in nature, unbound by doctrine, and therefore far more tolerant than monotheism, which tends to force people to believe in one faith.(Diavid Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and the Natural History of Religion, ed. J. C. A. Gaskin, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 26-32. ^ The Catechism of Positive Religion, page 251 ^ Berchman, Robert M. (2008). "The Political Foundations of Tolerance in the Greco-Roman Period". In Neusner, Jacob; Chilton, Bruce (eds.). Religious Tolerance in World Religions. Templeton Foundation Press. p. 61. ISBN 9781599471365. Retrieved 2016-07-03. Jacob Neusner [...] claims that 'the logic of monotheism ... yields little basis for tolerating other religions.' ^ James William Gibson, "A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a New Kinship with Nature", Macmillan, 2009, p. 98. ^ Regina Schwartz, The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism, The University of Chicago Press, 1997 ISBN 978-0-226-74199-4 ^ Arvind Sharma, "A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion", Dordrecht, Springer, 2006, p.29. v t e Criticism of religion By religion Bahá'í Faith Buddhism Christianity Catholic Jehovah's Witnesses Latter Day Saint movement Protestantism Seventh-day Adventist Unification movement Westboro Baptist Church Hinduism Swaminarayan sect Islam Islamism Twelver Shia Islam Wahhabism Jainism Judaism Monotheism New religious movement Scientology Sikhism Yazdânism Zoroastrianism Religious texts Bible Quran Hadith Mormon sacred texts Book of Mormon Talmud Religious figures Aisha Charles Taze Russell Ellen White Jesus Moses Muhammad Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Saul Religious violence Buddhism Christianity Mormonism Judaism Islam Terrorism Christian Hindu Islamic Jewish Persecution Christian thought on persecution and tolerance War In Islam In Judaism Sectarian violence By country India Anti-Christian violence In Odisha Nigeria Pakistan Books Atheist Manifesto Breaking the Spell Christianity Unveiled God in the Age of Science? God Is Not Great God: The Failed Hypothesis Letter to a Christian Nation The Age of Reason The Blind Watchmaker The Caged Virgin The End of Faith The God Delusion The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Why I Am Not a Christian Why I Am Not a Muslim Books critical of Christianity Books critical of Islam Movements Agnosticism Antitheism Atheism Criticism Cārvāka New Atheism Nontheistic religions Parody religion Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Criticism_of_monotheism&oldid=984643016" Categories: Criticism of religion Monotheism Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Wikipedia introduction cleanup from September 2016 All pages needing cleanup Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from September 2016 All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages বাংলা Edit links This page was last edited on 21 October 2020, at 07:22 (UTC). 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