Polytheism

===Christianity===
{{See also|God in Christianity|Trinity}}

Although Christianity is usually described as a monotheistic religion,<ref>{{cite book |title= Christianity: A Very Short Introduction|last= Woodhead|first= Linda |year= 2004|publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford|pages= n.p}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/monotheism#ref38222 |title = Monotheism &#124; Definition, Types, Examples, & Facts| date=24 May 2023 }}</ref> it is sometimes claimed that Christianity is not truly monotheistic because of its idea of the [[Trinity]].<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (1974) art. "Monotheism"</ref> The Trinity believes that God consists of [[God the Father|the Father]], [[God the Son|the Son]] and the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]. Because the deity is three persons, some people believe Christianity should be considered a form of [[Tritheism]] or Polytheism.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/educational-and-liturgical-materials/classic-articles/966-fisher2010/./|title= Typical Jewish Misunderstandings of Christianity|website= Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations|access-date= June 8, 2018|archive-date= June 12, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180612135846/http://www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/educational-and-liturgical-materials/classic-articles/966-fisher2010/|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thedebateinitiative.com/2014/12/08/muslims-reject-the-trinity-because-they-do-understand-it/./|title=Muslims reject the Trinity because they do understand it|website=thedebateinitiative|access-date= June 8, 2018}}</ref> Christians contend that "one God exists in Three Persons and One Substance,"<ref name="odcc-trin">''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (1974) art. "Trinity, Doctrine of the"</ref> but that a deity cannot be a person, who has one individual identity. Christianity inherited the idea of one God from Judaism, and maintains that its monotheistic doctrine is central to the faith.
[[File:Llanbeblig_Hours_(f._4v.)_God,_The_Holy_Spirit,_and_Christ_Crucified.jpg|thumb|It is sometimes claimed that Christianity is not truly monotheistic because of its idea of the [[Trinity]]]]
Jordan Paper, a Western scholar and self-described polytheist, considers polytheism to be the normal state in human culture. He argues that "Even the Catholic Church shows polytheistic aspects with the 'veneration' of the saints." On the other hand, he complains, monotheistic missionaries and scholars were eager to see a proto-monotheism or at least [[henotheism]] in polytheistic religions, for example, when taking from the Chinese pair of Sky and Earth only one part and calling it the ''King of Heaven'', as [[Matteo Ricci]] did.<ref>Jordan Paper: The Deities are Many. A Polytheistic Theology. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005, pp. 112 and 133.</ref> In 1508, a London [[Lollard]] named William Pottier was accused of believing in six gods.<ref name="Royal Milton 2020 p. 44">{{cite book | last1=Royal | first1=S. | last2=Milton | first2=A. | title=Lollards in the English Reformation: History, radicalism, and John Foxe | publisher=Manchester University Press | series=Politics, Culture and Society in Early Modern Britain | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-5261-2882-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNDKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT44 | access-date=2023-02-23 | page=44}}</ref>

====Mormonism====
<!-- Do not cite religious texts as sources for theological statements; reliable secondary sources are required. See [[WP:PRIMARY]] for more details -->
{{Further|God in Mormonism}}
[[Joseph Smith]], the founder of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], believed in "the plurality of Gods", saying "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods".<ref>{{citation |contribution-url= http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Godhead |contribution= Godhead |last= Dahl |first= Paul E. |pages= 552–553 |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism }}</ref> Mormonism, which emerged from Protestantism, <ref name="Bowen 2005 p. 26">{{cite book | last=Bowen | first=K. | title=Christians in a Secular World: The Canadian Experience | publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press | series=McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-7735-2712-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__38sGZLrvYC&pg=PA26 | access-date=2022-11-13 | page=26}}</ref> teaches [[Exaltation (Mormonism)|exaltation]] defined as the idea that people can become like god in the afterlife.<ref>{{citation |contribution-url= http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Exaltation |contribution= Exaltation |last= Pope |first= Margaret McConkie |page= 479 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |access-date= 2014-11-12 |archive-date= 2017-10-19 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171019112135/http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Exaltation |url-status= dead }}</ref> Mormonism also affirms the existence of a [[Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)|Heavenly Mother]],<ref>{{citation |contribution-url= http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Heavenly_Mother |contribution= Mother in Heaven |last= Cannon |first= Elaine Anderson |author-link= Elaine A. Cannon |page= 961 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |access-date= 2014-03-26 |archive-date= 2017-10-19 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171019111714/http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Heavenly_Mother |url-status= dead }}</ref> and the prevailing view among Mormons is that [[God the Father]] was once a man who lived on a planet with his own higher God, and who became perfect after following this higher God.<ref>{{citation |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/beliefs/god_1.shtml |title= Religions: An explanation of Mormon beliefs about God |work= [[BBC]] |date= October 2, 2009 |access-date= 2014-10-28 }}.</ref><ref>{{citation |last1= Riess |first1= Jana |author1-link= Jana Riess |first2= Christopher Kimball |last2= Bigelow |title= Mormonism for Dummies |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year= 2005 |isbn= 978-0-7645-7195-4 |chapter= Chapter 3: Heavenly Parents, Savior, and Holy Ghost }}</ref> Some critics of Mormonism argue that statements in the [[Book of Mormon]] describe a trinitarian conception of God (e.g. {{Mormonverse|2 Nephi|31:21}}; {{Mormonverse|Alma|11:44}}), but were superseded by later [[Revelation (Latter Day Saints)|revelations]].<ref>{{citation |last= Hoekema |first= Anthony |author-link= Anthony A. Hoekema |title= The Four Major Cults: Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism |publisher= [[Paternoster Press]] |place= Exeter, England |year= 1969 |orig-year= 1963 |page= 34 |isbn= 0853640947 |oclc= 12735425 }}{{unreliable source?|date=November 2014}}<!-- Polemic source perhaps not the best reference here, or at least using it exclusivly --></ref> Due to teachings within [[Mormon cosmology]], some theologians claim that it allows for an infinite number of gods.<ref name="Crane 2010 p. 63">{{cite book | last=Crane | first=S.A. | title=Is Mormonism Now Christian? | publisher=Wipf & Stock Pub. | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-60899-251-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ym5MAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 | access-date=2023-02-23 | page=63}}</ref><ref name="Haddad Groothuis 2011 p. 57">{{cite book | last1=Haddad | first1=J.F. | last2=Groothuis | first2=D. | title=Leaving Dirt Place: Love as an Apologetic for Christianity | publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-61097-217-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2PhMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 | access-date=2023-02-23 | page=57}}</ref><ref name="Parrish 2019 p. 65">{{cite book | last=Parrish | first=S.E. | title=Atheism?: A Critical Analysis | publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-5326-7266-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_CaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 | access-date=2023-02-23 | page=65}}</ref><ref name="Morley 2015 p. 277">{{cite book | last=Morley | first=B.K. | title=Mapping Apologetics: Comparing Contemporary Approaches | publisher=InterVarsity Press | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-8308-9704-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jz-jBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA277 | access-date=2023-02-23 | page=277}}</ref><ref name="Ankerberg Weldon 2019 p. 122">{{cite book | last1=Ankerberg | first1=J. | last2=Weldon | first2=J. | title=Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Mormonism | publisher=ATRI | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-937136-51-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r21HEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT122 | access-date=2023-02-23 | page=122}}</ref><ref name="Tsoukalas 2022 p. 37">{{cite book | last=Tsoukalas | first=S. | title=Knowing Christ in the Challenge of Heresy: A Christology of the Cults, A Christology of the Bible | publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers | year=2022 | isbn=978-1-6667-3786-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sn9zEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 | access-date=2023-02-23 | page=37}}</ref>

Mormons teach that scriptural statements on the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost represent a oneness of purpose, not of substance.<ref>{{citation |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2007/11/the-only-true-god-and-jesus-christ-whom-he-hath-sent?lang=eng |title= The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent |last= Holland |first= Jeffrey R. |author-link= Jeffrey R. Holland |date= November 2007 |journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] }}</ref> They believe that the early Christian church did not characterize divinity in terms of an immaterial, formless shared substance until post-apostolic theologians began to incorporate Greek metaphysical philosophies (such as [[Neoplatonism]]) into Christian doctrine.<ref>{{citation |last= Bickmore |first= Barry R. |author-link= Barry R. Bickmore |year= 2001 |title= Does God Have a Body In Human Form? |url= http://www.fairmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bickmore-GodHaveBody.pdf |publisher= [[FairMormon|Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research]] }}</ref><ref>{{citation |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1994/04/the-reality-of-the-resurrection?lang=eng |title= The Reality of the Resurrection |last= Draper |first= Richard R. |date= April 1994 |journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] }}</ref> Mormons believe that the truth about God's nature was restored through modern day revelation, which reinstated the original Judeo-Christian concept of a natural, corporeal, immortal God,<ref>{{citation |last= Webb |first= Steven H. |author-link= Stephen H. Webb |title= Jesus Christ, Eternal God: Heavenly Flesh and the Metaphysics of Matter |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 2012 |url= https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/byu-studies-volume-50-issue-3 |access-date= 2016-10-24 |archive-date= 2020-02-14 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200214141716/https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/byu-studies-volume-50-issue-3 |url-status= dead }}</ref> who is the literal Father of the spirits of humans.<ref>{{citation |journal= [[Liahona (magazine)|Liahona]] |date= January 2010 |title= God Is Truly Our Father |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2010/01/god-is-truly-our-father?lang=eng }}</ref> It is to this personage alone that Mormons pray, as He is and always will be their Heavenly Father, the supreme "God of gods" (Deuteronomy 10:17). In the sense that Mormons worship only God the Father, they consider themselves monotheists. Nevertheless, Mormons adhere to Christ's teaching that those who receive God's word can obtain the title of "gods" (John 10:33–36), because as literal children of God they can take upon themselves His divine attributes.<ref>{{cite web|editor-last= Lindsay|editor-first= Jeff|work= LDS FAQ: Mormon Answers|at= [http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_Relationships.shtml#poly If you believe the Father and the Son are separate beings, doesn't that make you polytheistic?]|url= http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_Relationships.shtml|title= Relationships Between Man, Christ, and God|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141112173311/http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_Relationships.shtml |archive-date= 2014-11-12 |url-status= live }}</ref> Mormons teach that "The glory of God is intelligence" (Doctrine and Covenants 93:36), and that it is by sharing the Father's perfect comprehension of all things that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are also divine.<ref>{{citation |title= Doctrine and Covenants Instructor's Guide: Religion 324–325 |year= 1981 |chapter= 'The Glory of God is Intelligence' – Lesson 37: Section 93 |publisher= [[Institute of Religion|Institutes of Religion]], [[Church Educational System]] |chapter-url= https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-instructors-guide-religion-324-325/the-glory-of-god-is-intelligence-lesson-37-section-93?lang=eng |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/32494_eng.pdf }}</ref>