Idolatry Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Religious tolerance and intolerance== The term ''false god'' is often used throughout the Abrahamic scriptures ([[Torah]], [[Tanakh]], [[Bible]], and [[Quran]]) to compare [[Yahweh]]<ref name="JE">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15027-worship-idol |title=Idol-Worship |last1=Kohler |first1=Kaufmann |last2=Blau |first2=Ludwig |author1-link=Kaufmann Kohler |author2-link=Ludwig Blau |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |year=1906 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504235442/https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15027-worship-idol |archive-date=4 May 2013 |url-status=live |access-date=18 April 2021}}</ref> (interpreted by [[Jews]], [[Samaritans]], and [[Christians]]) or [[Elohim]]/[[Allah]]<ref name="EI">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1971 |title=Idol, Idolatry |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor6-last=Schacht |editor6-first=J. |editor6-link=Joseph Schacht |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=3 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_DUM_1900 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4}}</ref> (interpreted by [[Muslims]]) as the only true [[God]].<ref name="Angelini 2021"/> Nevertheless, the [[Hebrew Bible]]/[[Old Testament]] itself recognizes and reports that originally the [[Israelites]] were not monotheists but actively engaged in idolatry and worshipped many foreign, non-Jewish Gods besides Yahweh and/or instead of him,<ref name="Stahl 2021">{{cite book |last=Stahl |first=Michael J. |year=2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drMlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |chapter=The “God of Israel” and the Politics of Divinity in Ancient Israel |title=The "God of Israel" in History and Tradition |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=[[Vetus Testamentum|Vetus Testamentum: Supplements]] |volume=187 |pages=52–144 |doi=10.1163/9789004447721_003 |isbn=978-90-04-44772-1|s2cid=236752143 }}</ref> such as [[Baal]], [[Astarte]], [[Asherah]], [[Chemosh]], [[Dagon]], [[Moloch]], [[Tammuz (mythology)|Tammuz]], and more, and continued to do so until their return from the [[Babylonian exile]]<ref name="JE"/> (see [[Ancient Hebrew religion]]). Judaism, the oldest Abrahamic religion, eventually shifted into a strict, [[exclusive monotheism]],<ref name="Leone 2016"/> based on the [[Yahwism|sole veneration]] of Yahweh,<ref name="Van der Toorn">{{cite book |last=Van der Toorn |first=Karel |author-link=Karel van der Toorn |year=1999 |chapter=God (I) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA352 |editor1-last=Van der Toorn |editor1-first=Karel |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=Van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter W. |title=[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=352–365 |edition=2nd |doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Godi |isbn=90-04-11119-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Betz |first=Arnold Gottfried |year=2000 |chapter=Monotheism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA916 |editor1-last=Freedman |editor1-first=David Noel |editor2-last=Myer |editor2-first=Allen C. |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=916–917 |isbn=9053565035}}</ref><ref name="Gruber 2013">{{cite book |last=Gruber |first=Mayer I. |year=2013 |chapter=Israel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1xbAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |editor-last=Spaeth |editor-first=Barbette Stanley |editor-link=Barbette Spaeth |title=The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=76–94 |doi=10.1017/CCO9781139047784.007 |isbn=978-0-521-11396-0 |lccn=2012049271}}</ref> the predecessor to the Abrahamic conception of God.{{#tag:ref|Although the [[Ancient Semitic religion|Semitic god]] [[El (deity)|El]] is indeed the most ancient predecessor to the Abrahamic god,<ref name="Stahl 2021"/><ref name="Van der Toorn"/><ref name="Smith 2000">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |author-link=Mark S. Smith |year=2000 |chapter=El |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA384 |editor1-last=Freedman |editor1-first=David Noel |editor2-last=Myer |editor2-first=Allen C. |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=384–386 |isbn=9053565035}}</ref><ref name="Smith 2003">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |author-link=Mark S. Smith |year=2003 |chapter=El, Yahweh, and the Original God of Israel and the Exodus |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afkRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |title=The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=133–148 |doi=10.1093/019513480X.003.0008 |isbn=9780195134803}}</ref> this specifically refers to the ancient ideas [[Yahweh]] once encompassed in the [[Ancient Hebrew religion]], such as being a [[Storm god|storm-]] and [[War god|war-god]], living on mountains, or controlling the weather.<ref name="Stahl 2021"/><ref name="Van der Toorn"/><ref name="Smith 2000"/><ref name="Smith 2003"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Niehr |first=Herbert |year=1995 |chapter=The Rise of YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion: Methodological and Religio-Historical Aspects |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bua2dMa9fJ4C&pg=PA45 |editor-last=Edelman |editor-first=Diana Vikander |title=The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms |location=[[Leuven]] |publisher=[[Peeters Publishers]] |pages=45–72 |isbn=978-9053565032 |oclc=33819403}}</ref> Thus, in this page's context, "Yahweh" is used to refer to God as conceived in the Ancient Hebrew religion, and should not be referenced when describing his later worship in today's Abrahamic religions.|group=Note}} The [[History of religion|vast majority of religions in history]] have been and/or are still polytheistic, worshipping many diverse deities.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Smart |first=Ninian |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Polytheism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/polytheism |date=10 November 2020 |origyear=26 July 1999 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111205729/https://www.britannica.com/topic/polytheism |archive-date=11 November 2020 |access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref> Moreover, the material depiction of a deity or more deities has always played an eminent role in all [[culture]]s of the world.<ref name="Stuckrad 2007"/> The claim to worship the "one and only true God" came to most of the world with the arrival of Abrahamic religions and is the distinguishing characteristic of their monotheistic worldview,<ref name="Leone 2016"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Hayes 2012">{{cite book |last=Hayes |first=Christine |author-link=Christine Hayes |year=2012 |chapter=Understanding Biblical Monotheism |title=Introduction to the Bible |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |series=The Open Yale Courses Series |pages=15–28 |isbn=9780300181791 |jstor=j.ctt32bxpm.6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bernard |first=David K. |author-link=David K. Bernard |year=2019 |origyear=2016 |chapter=Monotheism in Paul's Rhetorical World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AD1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |title=The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ: Deification of Jesus in Early Christian Discourse |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Journal of Pentecostal Theology: Supplement Series |volume=45 |pages=53–82 |isbn=978-90-04-39721-7 |issn=0966-7393}}</ref> whereas virtually all the other religions in the world have been and/or are still [[Animism|animistic]] and [[Polytheism|polytheistic]].<ref name="Britannica"/> Some Neopagan religions such as [[Wicca]] utilize statues of deities within their worship experience.<ref name="Raeburn 2001 p. 24">{{cite book | last=Raeburn | first=J. | title=Celtic Wicca: Ancient Wisdom for the 21st Century | publisher=Kensington Publishing Corporation | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-8065-2229-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y30a1mV2KpIC&pg=PA24 | access-date=2023-02-28 | page=24}}</ref> The accusations and presumption that all idols and images are devoid of symbolism, or that icons of one's own religion are "true, healthy, uplifting, beautiful symbolism, mark of devotion, divine", while of other person's religion are "false, an illness, superstitious, grotesque madness, evil addiction, satanic, and cause of all incivility" is more a matter of subjective personal interpretation, rather than objective impersonal truth.<ref name=janowitz239/> Regina Schwartz and some other contemporary scholars state allegations that idols only represent false gods, followed by iconoclastic destruction is only little more than religious intolerance.<ref>{{cite book|author=Regina Schwartz|title=Loving Justice, Living Shakespeare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgqDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT33| year=2016|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-251460-8|pages=32–34}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Josh Ellenbogen| author2=Aaron Tugendhaft|title= Idol Anxiety|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQNADWdHMicC |year=2011|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-8181-7|pages=29–35, 60–74}}</ref> The [[Scottish Enlightenment]] philosopher [[David Hume]] wrote in his essay ''[[Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion]]'' (1779) that the worship of different gods and cult images in Pagan religions is premised on [[religious pluralism]], tolerance, and acceptance of diverse representations of the divine, whereas Abrahamic monotheistic religions are intolerant, have attempted to destroy [[freedom of expression]], and have [[Forced conversion|violently forced others to accept and worship their conception of God]].<ref name=halbertal105>{{cite book|author1=Moshe Halbertal|author2=Donniel Hartman|title=Monotheism and Violence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JJjUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105|volume=Judaism and the Challenges of Modern Life|year=2007|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-0-8264-9668-3|pages=105–112}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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