Monotheism vs. Polytheism

Earlier this week in history, we focused on the differences between Monotheism and Polytheism. We were put into groups and we made a venn diagram about Monotheism and Polytheism. We found that the major differences between the two were:

• Monotheism has one god while Polytheism has many gods. This kind of goes without saying though.
• People that were/are monotheistic think that one over all god is more powerful then many weaker gods. But Polytheists thought that many gods made for a more powerful religion and so the two view points contradicted but of course each type of religion thinks it is better then the other.
• Monotheism is very popular now and Polytheism is not common at all nowadays. But Polytheism used to  be the more popular type of religion.
• Monotheism is more of strict religion because there is only one god that you can worship. But Polytheism lets you choose with god(s) you would like to worship and they don't force you to worship any certain god.

Some pros and cons that we came up for Monotheism were as follows. They are what monotheistic and polytheistic people would think, not what a neutral person would think:

Pros:

• One god can better unit a religion.
• One powerful god can do all of the things if not more then many weaker gods.
• A Monotheistic god has more concern for it's people. This was a piece of information that we found in a reading about monotheism.
• You can choose how religious you want to be. If you don't want to be that religious and worship everyday or go to church you don't have to.

Cons:

• Monotheism can cause more conflict because being forced to following one god is stricter then choosing which god you would like to worship.
• Having different denominations in religions can lead to wars over religion.

Pros about Polytheism:

• If someone believes in another god, it is easily accepted because there are so many gods and everyone can choose their own god to worship.
• There is a specific god for everything.
• Wars aren't fought over religions but instead over territory (which has nothing to do with religion). When countries or groups are conquered, they can still worship which ever god they want.

Cons:

• Polytheism doesn't have any very powerful gods, only a bunch of slightly powerful gods.
• People are less unified because everyone is worshipping a god of their choosing so it is more like your own little religion opposed to everyone worshipping the same one.
• Gods don't forgive their followers.

We were asked to answer this question with a thesis statement and three points. "Why did the world go from a civilization that was 90% polytheistic to a religion that was 90% monotheistic."

Thesis: Monotheism appealed to the progressing society and unvalidated the beliefs of Polytheism because of the rational core concepts of Monotheism, progressive changes to the approach of religion and the sense of unification and individuality in the experience if religion when compared to Polytheistic beliefs.

• Monotheism reflects rational values and beliefs, while polytheism expresses more radical themes.
• Monotheism proposed a change of take on religion after Polytheism lost validity as society progressed.
• Instead of the vastness and objectiveness of Polytheism, Monotheism provides a more unified community and subjective, individual opportunity to religiously practice.