A plea for polytheism

Recently I watched some TV footage of some Islamic fundamentalists blowing up some very old statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. It brought to mind the very intolerance of these people for the beliefs of others, of their jihad mentality and their absolute hostility to other belief systems. In reflecting on this quality I must note that it is not unique to Islam; the history of the Crusades and the Inquisition are witness to the fact that Christianity has also had its eras of brutal intolerance and hostility to other beliefs.

The continuing role of missionaries of various stamps, bringing the word, the true and only path to god testifies to the unwillingness of “true believers” to tolerate those who disagree.

Perhaps before the popularity of monotheism, the centuries when many gods, many forms of worship were tolerated was a kinder gentler time to live. Without doubt there were conflicts in those days, disputes over survival and governments but I doubt there was so much brutality and hate over differences of belief and systems of worship.

Some of the most primitive cultures, like the Australian aboriginal peoples, whose marginal survival existence for 40,000 years before the coming of civilization had no history of killing over diverse beliefs. Perhaps we have lost something quite important in our progress to civilization, a core respect for differences.