Stereotheism

Sometimes I think I’d like to study religion. In fact I’ve seriously been considering going to church lately. Thankfully the church I grew up in, nominally Christian though it may be, has no stipulation as to who, if anyone, one must take as his lord and master. The Unitarian faith is about as liberal as it gets. There have always been, at least in my lifetime, female ministers, openly gay members of the congregation, and an acceptance of other religions. I can remember as a kid going to Hanukah celebrations and seeing Hindi women in church. There is no conflict of interest as long as you are open to possibility and willing to be a loving person rather than a hateful one. Even a staunch Republicans are welcome (although they will probably find little support for their pro-life, pro-gun politics.)

Anyway what interests me most right now is this whole business of Monotheism. Specifically, if there seems to be a duality to just about everything (good/evil, darkness/light, man/woman) how is it that the vast majority of believers have come to the conclusion that there is only one (most often male) God? Sure some have tried to balance off the notion of God with a Devil, but the Devil is not God’s opposite, he is a fallen angel, a creation of God gone bad.

One entity is supposed to have created all this complexity, all this variety, single-handedly. Furthermore this single being has a handle on everything, can judge instantly the morality of our actions and decide what is righteous and what is wicked.

The power structures in our world are similarly modeled. We have one leader (president, prime minister, king, supreme overlord, CEO; once again most often male) who steers the fate of our federation (be it national, corporate or otherwise). But the basis for our real lives, our families, can only come to be as the result of two people. Ideally (though not, as I know from personal experience, always) these two people, remain together and act as the guiding force for those whom they have created. Together they use their experience and accumulated wisdom to make decisions and judgments they would not have been able to make otherwise.

As we have so often seen someone who is given supreme power is liable to fuck things up royally. Which is why there are checks and balances (in a democratic system at least). But ultimately our systems give the power and the glory to one leader. Is this tendency derived from our religion, or is our Monotheism based on this system of organization? Why has it become so universal, and is it truly more accountable, efficient and socially valid than a more broadly based idea of power?

Even within the lower animals there are a variety of power structures (not saying that animals and humans are necessarily that similar in terms of social structure, just pointing out that single leader systems are not universal), so my understanding is that our social hierarchy is a construct, that while sometimes useful, is not supreme and should be challenged, because our leaders seem to have their priorities right buggered up, and one wonders if we wouldn’t benefit from a less rigid dogma on the acquisition and wielding of religious and political power.