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| | |isbn=0-87808-423-1 | | |isbn=0-87808-423-1 |
| | |url=https://books.google.com/books?ei=-zCYUNfxFMvmtQbx_IGwCQ&id=QjYQAQAAIAAJ | | |url=https://books.google.com/books?ei=-zCYUNfxFMvmtQbx_IGwCQ&id=QjYQAQAAIAAJ |
| − | }}</ref> Wilhelm Busch, a member of the Confessing Church during the era of [[Nazism]], maintained that religions are human attempts to find [[God]] and they all have this in common: they have all gone astray in the fog and have not been able to discover God. The Jewish prophet Isaiah, according to Busch, understood that God is a hidden God, and that is why Isaiah cried out: ''"We cannot reach you. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down."'' Busch perceived it as an amazing thing that God "heard that cry [and] tore through the blanket of fog and came down to us - in the person of Jesus Christ", such that "Jesus reveals God to us."<ref name="Busch">{{cite book |author=Wilhelm Busch |title=Jesus Our Destiny |publisher=Inter Publishing Services |year=2001 |pages=11 |isbn=0-86347-024-6 |url=http://bitflow.dyndns.org/english/WilhelmBusch/Jesus_Our_Destiny_2007.doc}}</ref> This view is often summarized by saying that "''Religions are men’s unsuccessful attempts to reach God, Christ [or Christianity] is God’s successful attempt to reach men''."<ref>{{cite web |title=Inspirational Quotes |url=http://jesusalive.cc/quotes.htm |accessdate=31 Jul 2018}}</ref> | + | }}</ref> Wilhelm Busch, a member of the Confessing Church during the era of [[Nazism]], maintained that religions are human attempts to find [[God]] and they all have this in common: they have all gone astray in the fog and have not been able to discover God. The Jewish prophet Isaiah, according to Busch, understood that God is a hidden God, and that is why Isaiah cried out: ''"We cannot reach you. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down."'' Busch perceived it as an amazing thing that God "heard that cry [and] tore through the blanket of fog and came down to us - in the person of Jesus Christ," such that "Jesus reveals God to us."<ref name="Busch">{{cite book |author=Wilhelm Busch |title=Jesus Our Destiny |publisher=Inter Publishing Services |year=2001 |pages=11 |isbn=0-86347-024-6 |url=http://bitflow.dyndns.org/english/WilhelmBusch/Jesus_Our_Destiny_2007.doc}}</ref> This view is often summarized by saying that "''Religions are men’s unsuccessful attempts to reach God, Christ [or Christianity] is God’s successful attempt to reach men''."<ref>{{cite web |title=Inspirational Quotes |url=http://jesusalive.cc/quotes.htm |accessdate=31 Jul 2018}}</ref> |
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| | Some versions of the [[Bible]] (e.g. Contemporary English Version, GOD's WORD Translation, Good News Translation, Slovak Lutheran Translation) translate the Hebrew word חֻקּ֥וֹת (Transliteration: ''chuqqah'', meaning: ''statute, of special ritual laws, figurative of a firmly established custom'') from Jeremiah Chapter 10 as "religion"; and then the Bible claims such religions of nations are "worthless" (or, meaningless vanity) and compares them to idols "like scarecrows in a cucumber field". Then, further in verse 5, people are advised: "''Don’t be afraid of them because they can do no harm, nor can they do any good''."<ref>{{cite web |title=Jeremiah 10:3 |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+10%3A3&version=GNT |accessdate=31 Jul 2018}}</ref> | | Some versions of the [[Bible]] (e.g. Contemporary English Version, GOD's WORD Translation, Good News Translation, Slovak Lutheran Translation) translate the Hebrew word חֻקּ֥וֹת (Transliteration: ''chuqqah'', meaning: ''statute, of special ritual laws, figurative of a firmly established custom'') from Jeremiah Chapter 10 as "religion"; and then the Bible claims such religions of nations are "worthless" (or, meaningless vanity) and compares them to idols "like scarecrows in a cucumber field". Then, further in verse 5, people are advised: "''Don’t be afraid of them because they can do no harm, nor can they do any good''."<ref>{{cite web |title=Jeremiah 10:3 |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+10%3A3&version=GNT |accessdate=31 Jul 2018}}</ref> |
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| | ** [[Strong atheism]] | | ** [[Strong atheism]] |
| | ** [[Weak atheism]] | | ** [[Weak atheism]] |
| − | * [[Buddhism]] (though with elements of [[Polytheism]]. The ''devas'' that are found in a supporting role in the Tipitika are not strictly comparable to gods, as they are ultimately mortal.) | + | * [[Buddhism]] (though with elements of [[Polytheism]]. The ''devas'' that are found in a supporting role in the Tipitaka are not strictly comparable to gods, as they are ultimately mortal.) |
| | * [[Secular Humanism]] | | * [[Secular Humanism]] |
| − | * [[Scientology]] Has stories containing extraterrestrials, though none are claimed to be divine. | + | * [[Scientology]] has stories containing extraterrestrials, though none are claimed to be divine. |
| | * The [[Raelism|Raëlian Church]], based on the [[Ancient astronaut theory]]. | | * The [[Raelism|Raëlian Church]], based on the [[Ancient astronaut theory]]. |
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| | == Development of religion == | | == Development of religion == |
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| − | Secular scholars and [[liberal]]s, in order to justify their own postmodernist ideal that religious faith is a [[Subjectivism|subjective]] issue (that all religions are equally valid, there are no absolutes and consequently morality is relative), tend to take an [[evolution]]ary approach to the development of religion in human societies. | + | Secular scholars and [[liberal]]s, in order to justify their own postmodernist ideal that religious faith is a [[Subjectivism|subjective]] issue (''i.e.'', that all religions are equally valid and there are no absolutes, such that all [[morality]] is relative), tend to take an [[evolution]]ary approach to the development of religion in human societies. |
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| − | They usually subscribe to the idea that religion first started off as a primitive form of Animism or Spirit Worship, then evolved into polytheistic tribal/national religions, and then from one of these religions emerged Zoroastrianism, which saw a gradual decrease in its number of gods until it eventually was transformed into a monotheistic religion, which in turn evolved into the well organized, theologically complex and philosophically deep monotheistic faiths of today such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. | + | They usually subscribe to the idea that religion first started off as a primitive form of Animism or Spirit Worship, then evolved into polytheistic tribal/national religions, and then from one of these religions emerged Zoroastrianism, which saw a gradual decrease in its number of gods until it eventually was transformed into a monotheistic religion, which in turn evolved into the well-organized, theologically complex and philosophically deep monotheistic faiths of today such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. |
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| | This idea regarding the development of religion continues to appear in liberal publications, despite the fact that it has little real substantiation and is merely an assumption by liberal scholars, who often hold a certain kind of prejudice towards organized religion. | | This idea regarding the development of religion continues to appear in liberal publications, despite the fact that it has little real substantiation and is merely an assumption by liberal scholars, who often hold a certain kind of prejudice towards organized religion. |
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| | In reality, the exact opposite viewpoint has more substantiating anthropological evidence. Namely, the viewpoint that Monotheism (faith in one sole creator deity) was the original form of religion, but gradually corrupted until it fragmented into various polytheistic religions, which in turn decayed further, giving rise to pantheistic and atheistic religions. | | In reality, the exact opposite viewpoint has more substantiating anthropological evidence. Namely, the viewpoint that Monotheism (faith in one sole creator deity) was the original form of religion, but gradually corrupted until it fragmented into various polytheistic religions, which in turn decayed further, giving rise to pantheistic and atheistic religions. |
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| − | For example, expert egyptologist Flinders Petrie suggests there is sufficient archaeological evidence to conclude that the religion of the ancient Egyptians, which is normally categorized as a typical polytheistic religion, was not originally polytheistic, but in fact a monotheistic faith, which only in the later years of the Egyptian empire shifted from monotheism to polytheism. | + | For example, expert Egyptologist Flinders Petrie suggests there is sufficient archaeological evidence to conclude that the religion of the ancient Egyptians, which is normally categorized as a typical polytheistic religion, was not originally polytheistic, but in fact a monotheistic faith, which only in the later years of the Egyptian empire shifted from monotheism to polytheism. |
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| | Similarly, doctor Steven Rangdon of Oxford University, based on his research of ancient Babylonian inscriptions, concludes that the ancient Babylonian religion, like the ancient Egyptian religion, was also originally monotheistic, and only in the later stages of the Babylonian civilization did it start to transform into a polytheistic and idolatrous religion. Interestingly, this was also the case with the ancient Sumerian religion. The Sumerians believed in over 5,000 gods at the time of the end of their civilization. At the start of their history, however, they only worshiped one god, the god of the sky. It is more than likely that the Sumerian god of the sky is the same God of the heavens of the Hebrew Bible. | | Similarly, doctor Steven Rangdon of Oxford University, based on his research of ancient Babylonian inscriptions, concludes that the ancient Babylonian religion, like the ancient Egyptian religion, was also originally monotheistic, and only in the later stages of the Babylonian civilization did it start to transform into a polytheistic and idolatrous religion. Interestingly, this was also the case with the ancient Sumerian religion. The Sumerians believed in over 5,000 gods at the time of the end of their civilization. At the start of their history, however, they only worshiped one god, the god of the sky. It is more than likely that the Sumerian god of the sky is the same God of the heavens of the Hebrew Bible. |
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| − | Interestingly, this trend can also be seen in far Eastern religions. Shinto (神道), a native polytheistic religion of Japan, which now believes in the existence of thousands of deities, was in fact originally a religion with only three gods. As time passed, however, the religion started to fall into a state of decay as believers started to arbitrarily create more and more new gods of their own. The further one goes back in Japanese history the number of gods in Shinto lessens significantly. In addition, some Japanese scholars, for example evangelical theologian Kubo Arimasa, postulate that it is possible that Shinto was in fact originally monotheistic, and the three original gods described in the opening of the oldest known Shinto text ''Kojiki'' were, in fact, originally one creator God, identical to the creator of the Old Testament. | + | Interestingly, this trend can also be seen in far Eastern religions. Shinto (神道), a native polytheistic religion of Japan, which now believes in the existence of thousands of deities, was in fact originally a religion with only three gods. As time passed, however, the religion started to fall into a state of decay as believers started to arbitrarily create more and more new gods of their own. The further one goes back in Japanese history, the number of gods in Shinto lessens significantly. In addition, some Japanese scholars, for example, evangelical theologian Kubo Arimasa, postulate that it is possible that Shinto was in fact originally monotheistic, and the three original gods described in the opening of the oldest known Shinto text ''Kojiki'' were, in fact, originally one creator God, identical to the creator of the Old Testament. |
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| − | This monotheism → polytheism → pantheism religion corruption hypothesis is also in accordance with the scriptures of the Old Testament, which tells explicitly that the origin of polytheistic, idolatrous and pagan religions was the rebellion of sinners who sought to free themselves from the laws of the true creator, the Lord Yahaweh. | + | This monotheism → polytheism → pantheism religion corruption hypothesis is also in accordance with the scriptures of the Old Testament, which tell explicitly that the origin of polytheistic, idolatrous and pagan religions was the rebellion of sinners who sought to free themselves from the laws of the true creator, the Lord Yahweh. |
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| | == Academic studies consistently challenge link between religion and war == | | == Academic studies consistently challenge link between religion and war == |