Monotheism

==Criticism==
{{main|Criticism of monotheism}}{{see also|Criticism of religion}}

Critics have described monotheism as a cause of ignorance, oppression, and violence.

[[David Hume]] (1711–1776) said that monotheism is less pluralistic and thus less [[toleration|tolerant]] than [[polytheism]], because monotheism stipulates that people pigeonhole their beliefs into one tenet.<ref name="Hume">David Hume said that unlike monotheism, polytheism is pluralistic in nature, unbound by doctrine, and therefore far more tolerant than monotheism, which tends to force people to believe in one faith.(David Hume, ''Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and the Natural History of Religion'', ed. J. C. A. Gaskin, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 26-32.</ref> In the same vein, [[Auguste Comte]] said that "Monotheism is irreconcilable with the existence in our nature of the instincts of benevolence" because it compels followers to devote themselves to a single Creator.<ref name="Comte">[https://archive.org/details/catechismpositi00conggoog/page/n263 ''The Catechism of Positive Religion'', page 251]</ref> [[Mark S. Smith]], an American [[biblical scholar]] and ancient historian, wrote that monotheism has been a "totalizing discourse", often co-opting all aspects of a social belief system, resulting in the exclusion of "others".<ref name="Smith2001">Mark S. Smith, [https://books.google.com/books?id=S1tQ5Larst0C "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts]", (August 2001). p. 11. Oxford University Press. (Google Books).</ref> Jacob Neusner suggests that "the logic of monotheism ... yields little basis for tolerating other religions".<ref name="Berchman2008">
{{cite book| last1 = Berchman| first1 = Robert M.| chapter = The Political Foundations of Tolerance in the Greco-Roman Period| editor1-last = Neusner| editor1-first = Jacob| editor1-link = Jacob Neusner| editor2-last = Chilton| editor2-first = Bruce| editor2-link = Bruce Chilton| title = Religious Tolerance in World Religions| date = May 2008| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9P4TU-0zEs8C| publisher = Templeton Foundation Press| publication-date = 2008| page = 61| isbn = 9781599471365| access-date = 2016-07-03| quote = Jacob Neusner [...] claims that 'the logic of monotheism ... yields little basis for tolerating other religions.'}}</ref>

Ancient monotheism is described [[Casus belli|as the instigator]] of [[violence]] in its early days because it inspired the [[Israelites]] to wage war upon the [[Canaanites]] who believed in multiple gods.<ref name="Schwartz1997">Regina Schwartz, ''The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism'', The University of Chicago Press, 1997 {{ISBN|978-0-226-74199-4}}</ref> [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]] regarded monotheism as a cause of violence, saying: "The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from the time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of the one jealous God are egged on to aggressive wars against people of alien [beliefs and cultures]. They invoke divine sanction for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by Christianity and Islam, and it might not be unreasonable to suggest that it would have been better for Western civilization if Greece had moulded it on this question rather than Palestine."<ref name="Sharma2006">Arvind Sharma, "A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion", Dordrecht, Springer, 2006, p.29.</ref>