Is Polytheism Dead?

Is Polytheism Dead?

Growing up, I assumed polytheism was basically dead. And that assumption seems almost universal among people I talk to from very different backgrounds. Maybe there are a few historical holdouts, but as a living worldview? No real influence. Or so we think.

But then there’s this guy.

He comes from a Greek family, was educated in Switzerland, and there he met Erich von Däniken. He tells us his grandmother taught him that the Greek gods were actually aliens. Both he and von Däniken insist they still “believe in God,” but this creator is distant now. Too far away to deal with. What really matters are the local gods: aliens from another planet with whom we must interact if we want help, knowledge, or favor.

Sound ancient? It isn’t.

Belief in aliens is incredibly widespread today, and you’ll find many Christians who follow this line of thinking as well. When it isn’t aliens, it’s angels. Or the dead. Or spiritual “powers.” The logic is the same: God is far away, so we need intermediaries, beings closer to us, more accessible, more manageable.

That’s polytheism.

It may wear a lab coat instead of a toga, or use the language of spirituality instead of Olympus, but the structure is identical. Polytheism is alive and well, perhaps even in a church you know.

But here’s the good news: God is there, and He is not silent.

Scripture does not present a distant creator who has retreated from His world. It presents a God so present in human life that Job once cried out, “Why do you care what I do?” The problem isn’t that God is too far away. It’s that He is too close.

The sinner may begin by saying God is distant. Push past that first layer and you’ll find the real complaint: I wish God would leave me alone.

So people turn to aliens. Or angels. Or powers. Anything that puts space between themselves and the living God.

Christianity cuts straight through this. “There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” In Christ, God is not distant. In Christ, you may approach Him.

Polytheism survives wherever people try to keep God at arm’s length. The gospel announces something far more unsettling, and far more hopeful: God is near.