How many gods are there?

You mean this week? I don't know, but PLENTY.

Adherents.com reports 22 "Major Religions" - each with half a million followers (or more) - throughout the world.

However, these 22 include secularism, atheism, and agnostics as "one group" and there may be no "god" in some segments. Buddhism also has no "god" in the western notion os the word (e.g. we are all gods or there is not a god that can be known to the vast majority of people).

Neo-paganism, as a group, is used to incorporate a large group of modern revivals of ancient religions. Most Neo-pagans would have multiple gods and/or goddesses thereby making counting gods nebulous.

Shinto has a multitude of gods - research that one yourself. Rei Hino is a Shinto priestess (Miko) who transforms into Sailor Mars...

Another problem comes from Hinduism which, according the their scriptures, has 333 million gods.

Some Hindu's will say there is only one god with 333 million avatars or manifestations, but enough believe in the 333,000,000 total that the total number of gods would be well over 330,000,000 gods. Others go for just 33,000,000. Yet others say 3003... or 33 Celestial gods?

Steve Jobs had some interest in aspects of Hinduism. We know he (Steve Jobs) eventually adopted ZEN BUDDHISM as a spiritual path.

Somewhere, there is a bottom line.

See also: HERE

Buy Silver, Sell God.

People are often EMOTIONALLY involved with religion so REASONING with them is completely off the table.

5 years ago, in a Comparative Religions class (Calif. Secondary School) I said: "There is but one god - Aten - and Akhenaten is his prophet."

Of course, that was a setup for: "There is but one god - Allah - and Muhammad is his prophet" mentioned later in the course (and about 1500 years later in history).

BTW, do not confuse the issue: Akhenaten influenced the Levant and not the other way about. Some say Akhenaten and Moses were one and the same man!

God was added to American coinage during the Civil War.

"God" was "a device" that was useful in keeping the union from falling apart.

Then, by 1956, SILVER no longer backed paper money. If you can't trust paper currency that is backed by SILVER, then what do you "sell' to the populace as backing paper? GOD is the emotional answer.

HERE is an 1866 50¢ coin without the MOTTO.

and here is a worthless $100 bill - backed by God!

You have been sold a bill - with no goods behind it!

MORE

Later, the SILVER was removed from coins! All that remains is an illusion!

Cognition, recognition...

With more than 30 percent of the Bible market, the NIV has loyal following. When translators introduced a language update of the NIV (the TNIV), ass-backwards "Americans sounded the alarm."

First, translations are - by no means - certain. A word-for-word translation has limited value because while languages change, the speakers of those languages recycle old words to fit new meaning (thereby erasing recognition - or cognitive equivalence). Translation of the cognitive equivalents (e.g. thought-for-thought) is -at best- a patchwork of approximations because no one today is certain just WHAT the ancients were thinking or to what they might have been alluding. Also, parallels (cypher) have been lost more often than not. Add that puns and wordplay were often employed by the pre-standup comic element of the genre [of scriptural writers].

Bible translation differences clearly point out how modern words are 'best estimate' selected to translate or illuminate the metaphor in the ancient scripture.

Let me add that the same word-for-word and thought-for-thought problem exists for Buddhist Scriptures (including the more recent - comparatively - writing of Dogen)! Furthermore, more recent examples are available.

The debate itself is informative of how little we know - or can know. It also explains the generation-to-generation language gap.

So, my advice to those who wish to endlessly argue over minutia: "Shut the f*ck up!"

Besides, it's not creation that is being described in Genesis 1, it is only a sunrise (over the Gulf of Aden to the east of Ethiopia)! The spirit (e.g. breath) of god was carried by a bird - the BA - fluttering over the ocean at dawn.

Ignorant or free?

Thomas Jefferson once wrote:
"I have sworn upon an altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. A nation cannot be both ignorant and free."

The Peale portrait (1791) is here:

Ignorance is the cause of much suffering.

Oh, I know, desire (or craving) are the cause of suffering. Craving POWER, craving wealth, craving recognition - in short, being a paranoid republican.

Why are Buddhists happier?

Because they CAN be.

Why are most republicans miserable?

Because they are ignorant.

And in their ignorance, they can never be free. Pity the ignorant, pity the republican.

If you really believe...

Then serve god... (how?)

(serve god) Pizza!

You can even BURN THE BACON which, despite it's lack of kosherness, may please the nostrils of your particular god(s).

Multiple Names of God.

A monotheistic God evolved from the polytheistic nature (of gods) because the Gods had many names and titles for all of their works (e.g. storm, sea, sun, rain, death, seperation). Therefore, the Gods who were judges or the abortionist wagers of wars...

Some concepts of God are worth noting because they capture some ancient psychological truth.

The Egyptian speaker of truth (Toth) created everything from sound.

The Norse Balder was crucified, died, and was freed from Hel.

Trinities:

» Christianity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

» Romans (Archaic Triad). The Archaic triad was Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Jupiter (papa), Juno (the gate keeper), Minerva (mother) (father, son, mother of son).

» Greeks (Capitoline Triad). After 500 BC, the Romans modified the Greek gods Zeus (Jupiter), Athena (Minerva) and...

» Hindu (Vedas). Agni (the sun, god of fire), Vayu (god of air), Surya (god of spirit, breath of life, or ghost - manifested in the birth water).

» Hindu (Puranas). Vishnu exists in three forms: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (destroyer).

» Norse. Odin (the all-father), Freja (Athena), Balder.

Consider: the god of the toilet, the god of the dump, and the god of the flush. Why make arbitrary limits? Who ordained YOU to limit god(s)?

Estimating the number of atheists is rather complex (e.g. "there is no simple answer). Some adults who describe themselves as atheists also believe in God (Pew Research Center). And some people who identify with religions (e.g., are Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, etc.) do not believe in God.

I have no concerns whatsoever either way. The real question is: "Do you believe in Pizza? (I do not.)