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Originally Posted by Nodrog
I dont like the categorisation of 'monotheistic religions' because it tends to gloss over just how different Judiasm is from Christianity. The number of gods that a religion has is relatively unimportant compared to things like the attitude that it promotes towards this world (rather than an afterlife), the view of humanity which it is rooted in, the actions and outlooks it encourages its practitioners to have, its degree of supernaturaliism, and so on. While Christianity and Judiasm are closely linked by history, they are very dissimilar when it comes to these fundamentals.
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Rubbish.
When a religion has only one god it's attitude to the world, the view of humanity that it is rooted in and the actions and outlooks it encourages are profoundly affected by the fact that there is only one god.
When a religion is pantheonic all of these characteristics are also effected by the pantheon.
The value of terms such as monotheism and polytheism is that monotheistic religions tend to influence the view of humanity that it is rooted in and the actions and outlooks it encourages
in a noticably similar way.. With precisely the same being true of polytheism.
One of the most important aspects of the effect of a religion on a society over the last 8,000 years has been the number of gods that religion has.