Pagan Theism Polytheism Pantheism Monotheism Religions

Polytheism: the belief that there are numerous individual and unique deities.

Pantheism: the belief in a single deity exhibiting aspects - a composite or sum of the self-aware universe.

Monotheism: the belief that there is only one deity with a singular aspect and usually places the universe as a product of that deity rather than a part of it.

Monotheism is clearly different from pantheism although the distinction sometimes seems to be a semantic matter.

It should also be clearly understood that polytheism and pantheism are NOT the same thing. In reality that no longer seems clear at all. This leads to some very uncomfortable questions. A polytheist is absolutely a Pagan, but is the pantheist truly Pagan? What of the Neo-Pagan Wicca? As Wicca continues it’s burgeoning popularity there is increasing friction between pantheistic and polytheistic views.

The two camps are more frequently coming into contention as each seeks to establish themselves as the standard. Can there be coexistence or will the human tendency to polarize result in a schism as destructive as the Shi’ite and Sunni divisions of Islam?

To the polytheist the God/desses are each very real and separate beings. Through the progression of cultures many of the deities have been renamed so that often there are several names for a single deity. The polytheist does not require that these deities even be aware of each other. Omniscience is not requisite of polytheistic deity.

Some of these beings share characteristics much as humans may share DNA but the sum of deities is no more a deity than humanity is a human. While there is semantic truth to the idea that all comprise a whole it is an idea that is stunningly trivial to the polytheist. Somewhat akin to stating that the contents of a box make up the box.

The Pantheist views can range somewhat in reality. Rigorous pantheism includes each blade of grass and grain of sand as part of the construction that is god. The popular modern views of all God/desses being aspects of ’the One’ remains pantheism - a liberal form of monotheism that permits some personal discretion in how the ultimate deity shall be worshipped at any given time. The aspects are used as expression rather than as personal deities. To the pantheist any polytheistic insistence of unique and independent deity is the result of a woeful inability to apprehend totality.

Many pantheists are actually incapable of perceiving the difference between their view and that of the polytheist. In a popular undergraduate anthropology text a reference is made to the many God/desses worshipped by the rural population of India stating that an uneducated Indian understands that...these are all aspects of one divine essence.” In fact, this is not so. Polytheism does in fact lurk in the heart of many Indian peasants. Although the campaigns to eradicate this ’Hindu heresy’ were not as dramatic as the Xian crusades and inquisitions the pressures of the caste system served to eliminate public debate on the issue.

Polytheism is generally, although not always, the most tolerant of belief systems. There is strict polytheism, as there is strict pantheism. Recognizing the existence of multiple deities does not mean worship of all of them. The polytheist reserves formal recognition to a select grouping and usually forms a personal relationship with only one or two of those.

At the extreme ends of polytheism, to do otherwise is viewed as an utter lack of real commitment to spirituality. While most polytheists are tolerant of pantheism there are those who view it as the empty philosophical maunderings of the spiritually bankrupt...a refuge for those that lack the ability to commit to belief.

By strict definition Pantheism is not Pagan. Pagan comes from the term paganus meaning peasant or country dweller. Pantheism has always been a sophisticated urban tool for allowing the peaceful coexistence of religious diversity and for conquering and absorbing other cultures. Even Hinduism was established during the consolidation of the region by a conquering culture. Pantheism has never been a belief system of the country.

The question really becomes one of whether Paganism can remain permissive of pantheistic practice under the guise of Paganism. More and more declared Pagan organizations freely range between deities even within the confines of a single ceremony or ritual.

Many of these recognize the unique and individual identities of these deities. Several feminist Pagan organizations use such ceremonies to glorify all of the Goddesses in celebration of the female principle - consistent with polytheistic ideals. Other groups blandly excuse this mixing of deities by the pantheistic statement that ’they are all really just aspects of the One.’

The division becomes clearer in the explosion of Wiccan Covens that have adopted pantheistic philosophies. Many people have been drawn to Wicca as an alternative to a Xian infrastructure that is again exercising it’s formidable capacity for intolerance. In a very real sense they cling to the ’God of their fathers’ and the notion that all is really one makes their Paganism more palatable.

This can be brought full circle as I can personally report of a neophyte Wiccan seeking more knowledge in the Way who, after receiving a great deal of help from other ’Wiccans’ who held the pantheistic view, happily converted to Catholicism. His new understanding of Paganism left him content in the realization that the form did not matter. For him, the extensive infrastructure of Catholicism provided the best venue for helping others to achieve spiritual fulfillment.

Pagan capitulation to the encroachment of Xianity was a practical necessity. Xianity entered the region in urban areas, consolidated its hold on the cities, and entered the countryside with weapons and organization that pagans were completely incapable of resisting. It is possible that there is no more avenue of resistance to the invasion of pantheistic theology into Paganism than there was to Catholicism. It is also possibly unimportant. Polytheism will certainly survive...it always has.

It is possible that the polytheistic viewpoint will prove out to be, when all things are known, a provincial and unsophisticated caricature of a conscious cosmos. It may prove out that the pantheistic philosophy is nothing more than pedantic word play. Monotheism could even prove to be truth and many of us shall find ourselves unwillingly called to account before a wrathful, egocentric absolute deity.

But, there is a rich and complex Pagan theosophy that is being denied expression and exploration in the face of the, often arrogant, pantheistic insistence of unifying everything. It does not seem that our quest for spiritual enrichment is enhanced by this co-option of an entire school of thought. The Pagan seeker should not be forced to wade through a morass of pantheistic philosophy in search of his/her Way.

Nor should the fledgling pantheist be required to chip away at a veneer of polytheism to gain access to the vast body of extant pantheistic thought. If we seek fellowship of our own kind as we journey upon our respective Ways we must be careful to assure that our way is well marked and limit our tolerance for those who would seek to rewrite the signposts out of convenience or conceit.

Paganism may be under threat once again but this time from a force more terrible and destructive than the sword and fire of the inquisition. I have often spoken with Priests and Pastors who believe that the worst blow to Xianity was public acceptance and popularity in the Roman culture.

Paganism has become fashionable. With this dire event comes the inevitable influx of the intellectual effete who wear their religion as an accessory to their stylish life. As Paganism is pulled into the centers of culture it becomes corrupted and changed to suit the fancy of the moment. This cavalier Paganism loses the very character that makes it pagus...of the country.