I just want to remind about me being a non-believer. This does not mean I am hostile to religion. If God exist or not each may decide for him- or herself. In contrast I deny the existence of divine intervention. People seeing such everywhere are probably rather unaware of natural explanations. Claimed miracles I think are usually about human misjudgement. Some consist of hoaxes while the rest are after the fact constructs. Were the mind goes when one dies I see as an open question. If others believe in an afterlife it is okay for me.
Monotheists have historically often believed other gods to be deified humans. I don’t think so. Rather the opposite was common when a people converted to monotheism. Claiming the gods to have been humans then becomes a rationalisation of this. I think most gods are anthropomorphic personifications of different concepts. Languages spoken mostly by the illiterate lack words for many abstract concepts. Then they become easier to think about if they resemble humans in shape.
Some examples of gods of different origin:
• Amaterasu is a Japanese personification of the Sun.
• Anubis is an Egyptian personification of funeral.
• Aphrodite is a Greek personification of sexuality.
• Apollon is a Greek personification of art.
• Ares is a Greek personification of war.
• Artemis is a Greek personification of hunting.
• Athena is a Greek personification of wisdom.
• Coatlicue is an Aztec personification of birth.
• Dionysos is a Greek personification of partying.
• Frey is a Nordic personification of fertility.
• Freya is a Nordic personification of love.
• Ganesha is an Indian personification of creativity.
• Hades is a Greek personification of death.
• Hephaistos is a Greek personification of forging.
• Hermes is a Greek personification of messaging.
• Horus is an Egyptian personification of sky.
• Kali is an Indian personification of execution.
• Krishna is an Indian personification of husband.
• Odin is a Nordic personification of leadership.
• Osiris is an Egyptian personification of the life cycle.
• Persephone is a Greek personification of fertility.
• Poseidon is a Greek personification of sea.
• Quetzalcoatl is an Aztec personification of skill.
• Seth is an Egyptian personification of desert.
• Shiva is an Indian personification of destruction.
• Susano’o is a Japanese personification of sea.
• Thor is a Nordic personification of thunder.
• Thoth is an Egyptian personification of knowledge.
• Vishnu is an Indian personification of preservation.
• Zeus is a Greek personification of thunder.
Yahweh was originally a combination of several earlier gods. One of them has been ascribed characteristics of at least two others. When the government was no longer supported by worship, a revengeful god became counterproductive. An ethnic group could still be united around worship of a single god. In this way monotheism arose as we know it today. God in Christianity and later indirectly Islam has been influenced by Ahura Mazda (“Lord of Wisdom”). He was perceived as the only god worthy of worship. (There are still adherents although they are not so numerous.) In the Daoism’s highest god the beginning of such a development is found.
In contrast, minor figures could be based on humans. Demigods like Heracles/Hercules and Maui/Tiʻitiʻi are usually fictional. They can be most closely compared to modern superheroes. Particularly as it is unclear when they would have lived. Other figures can be roughly dated to a specific time period. Some historically documented individuals have been misunderstood afterwards. Based on this misunderstanding people in modern times have believed they were made-up.
I admit that I have made this mistake myself. As a teenager I asked my mum if Florence Nightingale have existed in real life. Now I think her work was mainly organising. She drew attention to soldiers’ very poor housing, brought chaos to order in military hospitals and started education for nurses. A systematic nurse education did not exist before this. Later she has been misunderstood as solely nurse. The ideal image of a nurse has been projected on her. Then it is nothing strange if she appears fictional.
A few more which have existed in real life or have real models:
Jesus I think has existed although this is controversial. He was named Yesoa ben Josef (”Joshua son of Joseph”) and was a Jewish preacher. It is entirely possible he was born outside marriage. The virgin birth is a mistranslation or made up afterwards. The later applies to most miracles having been ascribed to him. Some has a grain of truth like him standing on an ice floe which formed a particularly cold winter. Unfortunately he was mistaken for a seditionist by the Roman authorities. This was the reason they executed him. His resurrection was dreamed up by wishfully-thinking admirers. This is comparable to people denying Michael Jackson to be dead.
Santa has a real model. He was a Greek bishop named Nicolaos. We know when he lived and where he lies buried. Otherwise we don’t know much about him. After his death he got the reputation of having been generous. Even today there are Santas which are dressed as a bishop. Other ideas about Santa have arisen in modern times. The sleigh with flying reindeer is for example inspired by Siberian shamans. They took hallucinogenic drugs making them believe they flew.
Attila was the leader of the Huns which lived in the 5th century. He led their military campaigns over large parts of Europe. Not only himself but some of his relatives are historically documented. All contemporary sources about the Huns are written by their enemies. They may very well have depicted Huns as more cruel than they were. Present-day historians for this reason don’t trust all details.
There are well-documented historical individuals which has been ascribed the supernatural. Individuals from Alexandros to Mohammad have been ascribed contact with mythical creatures too. No present-day historians trust such stories. A relatively modern comparison is the Russian Grigori Rasputin. He was an amateur preacher who had grown up among farmers. I don’t think he was mad although he was weird. Neither did he hold any formal religious position. Miracles he has been ascribed all have the explanations I have listed at the top. After he was openly murdered a legendary arouse around his death. (In reality he was shot to death with a single bullet.) It has later been turned against him.
Nothing of this is intended as an insult to religion. This is just my personal thoughts about how these ideas came into existence. If someone wants to worship for example Vishnu this is okay for me. However, no-one has the right to force other to say a certain religion is true. This is neither allowed by mainstream Islam. The argument is that one can’t be god-fearing if someone forces one to say one believes. There is something in it.
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