Talk:Pantheon (gods)

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[edit] Buddhism has a Pantheon?

Why is Buddhism listed? I didn't think it had any gods. It was added by 81.155.97.114 on Dec., 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Buddhism Chuck 18:41, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed merge.

I disagree with the proposed merge with "polytheism". A pantheon is a distinct concept - a group of Gods within the context of a specific culture or fictional setting. Polytheism is really not about fictional sets of Gods (which this article discusses, and could address in much greater depth). Cheers! bd2412 T 06:59, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

No gods are fictional to those who believe in them, and all are fictional to those who don't, so that isn't a valid distinction. However, monotheistic religions also have pantheons; after all, that is basically what the saints and angels of Christianity are. There are other monotheistic religions, such as Vodun, where the word 'pantheon' is commonly used. Perhaps, though, that is simply a matter of dealing with unfamiliar religions. kwami (talk) 18:33, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

I should also mention that this article was made initially to create a target for the many links to "pantheon" that were previously directed to the disambiguation page on that word. There are "pantheons" of gods which are fictional in the sense that some author made them up for a story, and no one has ever believed in them. This use of the term should not be discussed in an article on the actual practice of polytheism. Also, there is the less formal social sense of the "pantheon of rock gods" and such, addressed in this article, which would also not be appropriate for the polytheism article (some people think "Clapton is God", but nobody thinks Clapton is God. Cheers! bd2412 T 18:41, 29 November 2007 (UTC)