Many Gods, One Humanity

The Anomalous Nature of Religious Diversity

The number of major gods recognized around the world and recorded in world history are in the hundreds.

The number of religions, current and past, centered on these gods, is in the thousands. 

The number of lives lost in the attempts to advance or defend religious beliefs is in the millions.

The number of humans negatively affected by this cultural anomaly is in the billions. 
 

Is There A Logical Alternative To This Diversity?

           The mainstream concept of considering religious diversity and its negative effect on mankind as a social enigma, and attempting to find ways of making it work cohesively, has been, and is a total failure.  But, the logical approach of attempting to discover the truth behind the phenomenon of multiple gods, and examining alternative explanations for it is ignored.  A practical approach is to consider the alternatives and determine the logic of each of the possible reasons for this diversity. 

·   There are many real gods
           All, or some, of the gods are real.  Since they all showed up about the same time, they seem to get along, which is a good thing since they all say they will return about the same time.  That time being when man is about to destroy his own race and the world he inhabits.  Many gods flying around the planet, staking out their own territory, controlling their own airspace, while scrupulously avoiding and ignoring the other gods, and  the territory and air space of those other gods is not logical.  Then, there is the problem that only one could be the creator god, only one could be responsible for the flood, only one could have been the savior; to list just a of few of the problems.  And, a major problem is that they all claim to be the supreme god, which is, of course, impossible.

·   There are no real gods
          There is no god and all this controversy has been over nothing.  We are then left with absolutely no explanation why so many similar religious beliefs formed in societies completely isolated from each other.

·   There is one real God and many false gods
          Only one of the gods is real and that god has one chosen people as most of the religions worshipping their individual gods claim.  That may be fine for the "chosen" people who are lucky enough to have stumbled upon that one "true" god, but for the others, it is a serious problem.  They have been worshipping false gods, and no matter what size the religion of the true god happens to be, the number of non-believers is in the billions.  Figuring out if you are lucky enough to be worshipping the right god, at the right time, is the first difficulty.  If you didn’t pick the right god you have to wonder how deep in the "Heathen Heap" you will be buried.  How do you explain to the real "God" why you dedicated all your time to a false god, while, at the same time, viciously condemning the real one? 

·   There is one real God being described in different ways, by many different peoples
          All or most of the world’s gods are not different gods but different descriptions of the same Supreme God.  This concept would mean that everybody is currently being deceived and seems to be blind to the fact that their own religions warn them about this deception.  However, since most religions say the evil force would create a complete deception, and their god would allow this, humans, by default, are all innocent.  Since everybody was being deceived, nobody be faulted.  This concept is the only one that follows logic, puts religious diversity in a realistic perspective, and fits the universal accepted model of loving, fair, and all-powerful God that created the whole world.  Would such a God pick only a few to associate with and ignore all the rest, or condemn them for believing a deception he allowed? 
            The first alternative, that there are many real gods, defies logic and does not seem to be supported by any practical evidence.  Logic dictates that only one supreme god can fit on one planet.   The second alternative, that there is no god, not only defies logic but mountains of evidence disproving it.  The third, and the most accepted alternative, that there is only one real god and many false gods, dismisses the impossibility of so many glaring similarities. 
            It is the final alternative that logic supports, evidence corroborates, and fits into the model of a loving and fair god.  It is, also, the only one that bodes well for all mankind.  It does not argue the differences in the many religions, but recognizes the similarities.  It does not condemn the differences, it explains them.  It does not exclude any, but includes all.  And, it is the only scenario that would explain a mass deception of mankind.  The strongest and most effective of all offensive strategies is divide and conquer.  Isolating mankind into many small groups by convincing them that only they are right and all the other groups are wrong will keep them busy opposing each other while the real evil goes forward unimpeded and undetected.  Convincing them that only they are right and everybody else is wrong will prevent them from realizing they are all created by the same God with the guaranteed destiny of becoming part of the Family of God.