Polytheism Quotes

• I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. As far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion more to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Men, Political, Islam

  "The Tocqueville Reader: A Life in Letters and Politics". Book by Alexis de Tocqueville; edited by Olivier Zunz and Alan S. Kahan, p. 229, 2002.

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• The idea of polytheism is grounded in the view that reality (divine or otherwise) is multiple and diverse... Polytheism has allowed a multitude of distinct groups to exist more or less in harmony, despite great divergence in beliefs and practices.

  Margot Adler

  Reality, Views, Practice

  Margot Adler (2006). “Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America”, p.36, Penguin

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• It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its corruption, given birth to polytheism and to all the various superstitions of the heathen world. Reason, when obvious, prevents these corruptions: When abstruse, it keeps the principles entirely from the knowledge of the vulgar, who are alone liable to corrupt any principle or opinion.

  David Hume

  Race, Principles, World

  David Hume (2016). “The Natural History of Religion: Revision of Great Book”, p.5, VM eBooks

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• The theory of three person in one God (that is, a personal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polytheism, rather than the one ever-present I AM. Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared, but is the Son of God.

  Mary Baker Eddy

  Jesus, Son, Unity

  "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures". Book by Mary Baker Eddy, 1875.

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• As for our gods, we have a few too many to be true.

  Pierre Corneille

  God, Religion, Being True

  "Polyeucte martyr". Play by Pierre Corneille (Act IV, Scene VI), 1642.

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• Among all nations, through the darkest polytheism glimmer some faint sparks of monotheism.

  Immanuel Kant

  Sparks, Monotheism, Nations

  Immanuel Kant (1855). “Critique of Pure Reason”, p.363

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• We are pantheists as natural scientists, polytheists as poets, and monotheists as moral beings.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Moral, Poet, Scientist

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• I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Men, World, Paganism

  "The Tocqueville Reader: A Life in Letters and Politics". Book by Alexis de Tocqueville; edited by Olivier Zunz and Alan S. Kahan, p. 229, 2002.

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• For atheism and polytheism there is no special problem of suffering, nor need there be for every kind of monotheism.

  Walter Kaufmann

  Suffering, Special, Atheism

  "The Faith of a Heretic". Book by Walter Kaufmann, ch. 6, 1961.

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• Idolatry, then, is always polytheism, an aimless passing from one lord to another. Idolatry does not offer a journey but rather a plethora of paths leading nowhere and forming a vast labyrinth.

  Pope Francis

  Journey, Labyrinth, Path

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• It is sufficiently evident from many circumstances, that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ did not establish itself without much opposition, especially from the unlearned among the Christians, who thought that it savoured of Polytheism , that it was introduced by those who had had a philosophical education, and was by degrees adopted by others, on account of its covering the great offence of the cross , by exalting the personal dignity of our Saviour.

  Joseph Priestley

  Christian, Philosophical, Divinity

  Joseph Priestley (1871). “A History of the Corruptions of Christianity”, p.19

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• The metaphysical insanities of Athanasius, of Loyola, and of Calvin, are, to my understanding, mere lapses into polytheism, differing from paganism only by being more unintelligible.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Insanity, Understanding, Lapses

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• Even the most humane and compassionate of the monotheisms and polytheisms are complicit in this quiet and irrational authoritarianism: they proclaim us, in Fulke Greville's unforgettable line, "Created sick Commanded to be well." And there are totalitarian insinuations to back this up if its appeal should fail.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Sick, Lines, Quiet

  Christopher Hitchens (2009). “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, p.57, Basic Books

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• The deepest difference between religions is not that between polytheism and monotheism.

  Walter Kaufmann

  Differences, Monotheism

  "The Faith of a Heretic". Book by Walter Kaufmann, ch. 6, 1961.

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• "You ought to be ashamed," a woman in an Easter bonnet told Stein. "Your race gave us our religion..." "From ancient polytheism, the belief in lots of gods," the woman continued a little more eruditely, "the Hebrew nation led us on to the idea that there is only one." "Which is just a step from the truth," said Stein.

  Peter De Vries

  Easter, Race, Ideas

  Peter De Vries (2012). “The Blood of the Lamb: A Novel”, p.207, University of Chicago Press

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• Allah made the faith for you as a purity from polytheism (and unbelief).

  Fatima bint Muhammad

  Purity, Made, Unbelief

  "Ayan al-Shī'ah" by al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin, vol.1, p. 316,

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• I believe that Judaism was an improvement on polytheism; Christianity was an improvement on Judaism (to some degree and in some departments only); that Protestantism is an improvement on Catholicism; that Mormonism is an improvement on Protestantism. So I give Joseph Smith credit as an innovator and as a smart fellow.

  Thomas Ferguson

  Smart, Believe, Giving

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• I do not know much about Mohammed or Mohammedanism. I do not take the Koran to bed with me every night. But, if I did on some one particular night, there is one sense at least in which I know what I should not find there. I apprehend that I should not find the work abounding in strong encouragements to the worship of idols; that the praises of polytheism would not be loudly sung; that the character of Mohammed would not be subjected to anything resembling hatred and derision; and that the great modern doctrine of the unimportance of religion would not be needlessly emphasised.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Encouragement, Strong, Character

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