The argument
There is only one god.
How to debunk it
- The religious idea that you must have faith rather than depend on the constraints of reason and evidence opens the door to any and all deities. To then somehow restrict or channel faith into only one deity is to make a mockery of the idea of faith in the first place. You’re essentially telling people to put their trust in their own personal beliefs, but only as long as their personal beliefs conform to the specific religious doctrine you’re trying to promote. It’s just a clear case of special pleading—a classic logical fallacy.
- At other times, religious apologists claim that absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence, and that you therefore can’t disprove the existence of god. But if you were to apply this argument consistently—not just to the deity you happen to like—it would contradict the argument that there’s only one god. How can you claim no other gods exist when you also claim that absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence? You can’t have it both ways.
- As for appealing to tradition (not that this is any more than a logical fallacy), the Judeo-Christian traditions certainly advocate a specific deity, but the Bible makes it clear that many other deities also exist. There are too many examples to mention here, but look at the Ten Commandments as they appear in Exodus 20:2–4. In the first commandment, Yahweh introduces himself as the god who brought the Hebrews out of Egypt. He doesn’t introduce himself as the one and only god, but simply as the deity who happened to have led the Israelites out of Egypt. Yahweh then tells the Israelites that they should have no other gods before him. He never says that there are no other gods in existence, just that he—Yahweh—is the only one deserving of the Israelites’ worship. If this isn’t convincing enough, Yahweh continues on to admit that he’s a jealous god. Jealous of whom? If no other gods existed, jealousy would make no sense.
