Belief systems

Re “Gods, or God?” Opinion, Oct. 23

Mary Lefkowitz gives an interesting account of the virtues of polytheism, but she offered little explanation of why monotheism has pushed polytheism to extinction. The common explanation is that the Greek gods were no more than forces of nature in human form and a short step above animism in the great evolution toward monotheism. But is it possible that polytheism’s downfall came from within the Greek pantheon? Might Ares, the Greek god of war, have slipped away from Olympus, chosen a side in the endless tribal warfare in the Middle East and passed himself off as the one and only? How better to create centuries of zealots and endless war than to separate humanity into believers in one true god and heathens? If the God of Abraham is not Ares, he certainly created a world Ares would have loved.

Mark Milinich

Venice

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I am confused by the distinction Lefkowitz draws between monotheism and polytheism. Sure, the Greeks had a pantheon, but what of today’s masses? In the so-called monotheism of today, in addition to God there is also an acknowledgment of many transcendent beings capable of influencing the quotidian: The son of God, the mother of God, the devil, angels and demons immediately come to mind. No doubt well-considered academic and theological texts argue their way out of acknowledging this, but I see little change in humanity over the course of the millenniums.

R.H. Joseph

McDonough, Ga.

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Lefkowitz argues that true suffering and violence would end if only we spurned monotheism and returned to polytheism. While this reading of history is truly bizarre considering the vicious Greek and Roman past, her description of monotheism is rather selective and, quite frankly, wrong. Lefkowitz describes Greek theology as being open to discussion and inquiry, embracing of female divinity and asking hard questions. However, Judaism’s core non-divine text, the Talmud, is a compendium of hundreds of years of rabbinic discussion, allegory and law, wrestled over by myriad students of Judaism for millenniums. As any knowledgeable Jew knows, our tradition has always viewed God as having both masculine and feminine characteristics.

Cantor Keith Miller

Santa Monica

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Lefkowitz went easy on the monotheists. The greatest in human achievement occurred under systems that were polytheistic and balanced the feminine with the masculine. As a lifelong atheist, I think that early monotheists helped to debase culture by putting women in an inferior position and creating belief systems that promoted intolerance. The irony? Massive changes from global warming will lead to a renewal of paganism and polytheism. The excesses of monotheism and its desire to control nature have come home to roost.

Jeff Softley

Los Angeles