(December 30, 2016 at 11:40 am)robvalue Wrote:(December 30, 2016 at 11:33 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: This is largely what I meant by 'cultural norms'. Religious variants tend to cluster geographically and culturally. It strikes me that if there was a single deity who took any kind of an interest in human affairs, you wouldn't have Hindus clustered in the Indian subcontinent, Buddhists in East Asia, Muslims in the Middle East and Africa, Christians in Europe and the Americas, etc. In fact, if the determining element of religious belief was anything other than cultural inertia, an Eskimo would have the same religious views as a Kalahari bushman.
Boru
Right. If anything, it points to numerous deities all battling for power. That would be a far better explanation. The idea that it's "the same God" everywhere is absolutely ludicrous beyond belief. Unless it's a god that enjoys confusing people and watching them kill each other over differences in opinions about it.
The idea of a single god is absurd on the face of it both for the reasons you give and for the obvious need to maintain a breeding colony to perpetuate the species.