ids hispeople to bow down before other gods, suggesting the existence ofparallel deities. In many cultures today, God is not singular: A tribeof deities perform their individual tasks and attract their ownfollowings. Hindus, for example, have never found reason to abandontheir pantheon. While polytheism may seem primitive to Westerners, whohave been reared with the idea that there can be only one God, it doeshave certain advantages and may not be merely a less sophisticatedpredecessor of monotheism. For one thing, if there are many gods, it may be easier to find onewhose job description best fits your needs. If you are an artist or anexpectant mother, you might be able to seek the assistance of a godspecially attuned to your situation and more comforting to you than agod who controls the weather (who might be favored by farmers). Moreimportantly, having a variety of gods who specialize in differentaspects of life relieves the single great deity of attending to amultitude of specific concerns. This is simply the economic principle ofthe division of labor applied to religion. In addition, polytheism creates more confidence for the petitioner:You are more likely to get an answer from a god with an interest andexpertise in your problem than to persuade the great God to becomeinterested in your trivial concern. In Roman Catholicism, praying tosaints for their intercessory power saves this advantage withoutcompromising monotheism. The problem with polytheism, however, is that the gods who areinterested in specific human concerns generally begin to look and actall too humanly themselves. It requires no stretch to imagine themengaging in the same kinds of self-interested behavior, such asbickering over jurisdiction and illicit love affairs, that we find amonghumans. They become less divine and less worthy of worship. By contrast, the problem with monotheism is that God becomes sogreat and so incomprehensible that He ceases to be ava...
