The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Gospel reading from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, September 5th: Wisdom 9:13-18; Philemon 9-17; Luke 14:25-33)

POLYTHEISM AND PANTHEISM

In our ongoing study of “religious nuts” (people who believe one thing but do another), we need to analyze the five mutually exclusive and distinct worldviews. Last week we looked at atheism. This week we’ll take a look at the next two worldviews, polytheism and pantheism.

Polytheism is exactly what the name implies, and exactly what your 6th grade World Civ teacher taught: a belief in many different gods.  

The most familiar polytheistic religions, the ones we studied in 6th grade, are the ancient Greek and Roman and Scandinavian religions. They believed many different gods existed, and most of the phenomena of nature were controlled by a specific god. For example, Zeus was the god of the sky; Venus, the goddess of love; Thor, the god of thunder; Helios, the god of the sun; Bacchus, the god of wine; etc.

The gods of the ancient polytheistic religions possessed supernatural powers—after all, it was thought they controlled nature—but their powers were limited and their personalities and behaviors in many ways were quite similar to human beings. The gods were often vengeful, immoral, indecisive, impulsive, lacking in wisdom, and dysfunctional in family affairs. Unlike the God of the Bible, who is described as all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfect is wisdom and goodness, the ancient polytheistic gods were basically human beings expanded to super-human proportions.

Polytheism is probably the least believed and practiced worldview in modern societies nowadays. In fact, certain denominations, most notably the Unitarian churches soon after the Protestant Reformation, were formed in opposition to polytheism, mistakenly believing that the traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity was polytheistic. That’s where the group’s name came from—Unitarian as distinct from Trinitarian. (Yes, the doctrine of the Trinity states that there is one God in three persons, which seems somewhat polytheistic on the surface. However, traditional Christianity has always asserted that there is only one God. The fact that this God exists with three distinct “persons,” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is a mystery that must be accepted as an article of faith.)

One modern faith system that can be described as polytheistic is the Mormon Church. Mormons believe there is one all-supreme God, but human beings are given the opportunity to become gods if they live their lives properly here on earth. Jesus Christ, it is believed, was the first human to achieve godhood. Most Mormons hope that when their lives end here on earth, they too will become gods and be given their own galaxy in the universe to rule.

In practical terms, Mormons live their daily lives as monotheists, since only one god is presently ruling over this particular world. But in the grand scheme of Mormon theology, many gods exist, each out there ruling over his or her assigned galaxy.

So, to summarize, unlike atheism, which holds that the natural world is all there is, polytheism very obviously believes in a supernatural dimension to existence. The gods have abilities and knowledge far surpassing those of mere mortals, and the gods can perform supernatural miracles.

Unlike monotheistic faiths, which hold that there is only one supernatural deity in existence, polytheistic religions believe the various gods are separate and distinct from one another, each with his or her own personality.

The gods of polytheism are also separate and distinct from nature, making the polytheistic worldview different from pantheism. Pantheism holds that deity—the supernatural spiritual dimension of existence—is a part of the natural world, without a specific personality.

Pantheism is the worldview which underlies many well known religious faiths: Hinduism, the New Age movement, Earth-worshipping environmentalist groups, and anyone, such as actress Shirley MacLaine, who teaches that people need to “release their inner god.”

Also included on this list is “the Force” from the Star Wars movies, and Disney’s animated film from the 1990s, Pocahontas, which contains the song “Colors of the Wind” with the following lyrics:

You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

Now, let me just say I think “Colors of the Wind” is a lovely song by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. The point of quoting the lyrics is not to claim Hollywood is pantheistic, despite numerous references in the preceding paragraphs (they’re much more atheistic and secular than anything else), nor to debate the destructive behavior of European settlers four centuries ago. The point is to demonstrate the core beliefs of the pantheistic worldview: rocks and trees and all creatures have a spirit; they are all a part of the spirit world. The divine force present in the universe is not separate and distinct from the natural world; it is a part of the natural world.

Pantheism is a very attractive faith because of the conclusions that must be drawn from the basic worldview. The first conclusion is: If the divine force is in everything, then what we call good and evil also are a part of God. This means there is no absolute morality, no divine proclamation that certain things are always right while other certain things are always wrong. Morality is relative; it depends on the situation.

The second important conclusion is the idea that religious life and practices are subjective and based on personal experiences. The thinking is: whatever works for you is right for you. In pantheistic faiths, whatever path brings a person to peace and enlightenment is fine. In monotheistic faiths, the divine Creator reveals the true path to Heaven, regardless of how we feel about it.

The third key conclusion of a pantheistic worldview is the notion that individuality is an illusion, and therefore, so is free will. If humans really do not have free will, then there is no sin and no Hell. Possibly the strongest attraction of pantheistic religions is the denial of sin and guilt and Hell.

As Professor Peter Kreeft explains in his book, Fundamentals of the Faith, “If there is no sin, no salvation is needed, only enlightenment. We need not be born again, only to wake up to our innate divinity. If I am a part of God, I can never be really alienated from God by sin.”

Kreeft, a philosophy professor at Boston College, goes on to say, “Such pantheism is very popular today. Most of my Catholic college students believe we are parts of God and that God is in everyone. Thus we need not be ‘born again’ but need only recognize our intrinsic value and accept ourselves as we are. They have been educated by pop psychologists masquerading as theologians.”

The final two worldviews we need to discuss are the two monotheistic worldviews: deism and theism. Deism believes that God created the world, but then left us on our own. The God of deism is neither concerned with nor involved in the affairs of humanity. He doesn’t care and He doesn’t hear prayer. Theism, on the other hand, believes God created the world, but also that He takes an active role in the affairs of humanity. The God of theism is aware, does care, and hears prayer.

We will take an in-depth look at deism next week, and then after studying theism the following week, we’ll be ready to analyze exactly why the so-called “religious nuts” believe one thing but then do another. A little hint: it is rooted in ignorance of and confusion about worldviews.

©2004