POLYTHEISM: Where did it go?  

Polytheism came first; it was a logical extension of humans projecting themselves into the universe. If they had motives, desires and agency, they could only assume that such were ubiquitous. They built idols who literally were gods, but idols can break so the gods were elevated to the heavens. Just as there were leaders and followers, just as there were experts in a variety of tasks, the gods were arranged in a hierarchy and gods appeared whose expertise matched the human model.

Hinduism, perhaps the first organized religion grew by accretion. The concept calls for a single god with three manifestations and many other lesser gods. There is some argument that Christianity followed that model with its Trinitarian god and a host of lesser gods called saints. Both models are called henotheistic, having a main god but acknowledging their existence of other gods.

Because Hinduism is considered a tradition, because it gathered itself over centuries nothing occurred which produced major upheavals. Religious bigotry until recently had no place in its ethos and, if I understand correctly it was not designed to proselytize; they did not have religious wars. The Hindu system of polytheism worked until in the late nineties when it became the state religion and that always causes trouble; there has been considerable violence between Muslims since.

Ancient Greek polytheism, henotheistic with Zeus (or Jove in the Roman system) in charge of a group of experts worked quite well. There were no religious wars; depending on circumstances, prayer could go to this or that god depending on what was needed. No Greek city-state made it the official religion, so there could be no accretion of wealth and thus power. The Egyptians had roughly the same system, but had state recognition. When the pharaoh, Akhenaton proposed worshiping the sun, the priests conspired against him and that ended it. Egypt was essentially ruled by cooperation between religion and politics.

Generally speaking, the henotheistic system worked pretty well raising the question: Why did monotheism replace it?

For reasons not clear, the Greco-Roman system left the people dissatisfied. I suspect the earliest indications, fascination by Judaic religious belief because it presented a new concept of god provided them comfort. (Were it easier to become Jewish, perhaps it would now be a Jewish world.) Up until then, the gods cared not a fig for humans. The gods did what they did quite indifferent to human suffering. The universe had no warmth, no sense of purpose, no empathy for human pain. Judaism provided a universe that cared about people, became involved in their lives, provided help in terms of duress. That surely felt good, but as noted, joining up was not easy of accomplishment. The Hebrew people became first henotheistic, then monotheistic primarily as a way of unifying the tribes. Without such unification, the tribes could not successfully defend themselves; with it, they became formidable. Poor Pharaoh, poor Canaanites, the unified Hebrews, all under the same god, hammered them.

Then came Joshua, (Jesus, according to the Greek version of the bible) a rabbi who promised salvation, who promised heaven and by implication, hell, who promised love and resurrection all rewards for good and bad folk. People need not complain about a rough life, their reward, heaven, became the goal of living. If you were poor, or a slave or a gladiator, in Roman days many many people the message of salvation became irresistible. Still, only poor people resonated to the message and Christianity would have become only one of many. People could opt for one or the other religious understanding until Constantine, for purely political reasons declared Christianity the state religion. With enough on his side, he could rule more comfortably. The consequence of his decision meant that the Christians could wipe out paganism. Originally, the Romans had hated Christianity because they saw it as atheistic and realized they wanted to convert everyone.

Noted above, when the state chooses a religion problems arise. Church and state connive to get greater control over the people. The church gathers immense resources because there is no other organization competing for financial support. The church demands that others join up; remaining aloof often meant death. Religious tolerance disappeared. What we consider a matter of conscience became state mandate. Religious wars appeared; no competition could exist.

The three Abrahamic religions, often called “great,” could not find common ground though they all express worshiping the same god. Humans traded away considerable comfort for the promise of a caring universe. And, most still don't accept the notion that it does not give a rat's patooty for humanity. If we ever get back to the Greco-Roman system, I would worship Aphrodite.

If you're looking around for religion

Monotheism is a lousy decision

If you have lots of woes

It will lead you by your nose

And screw up the human condition.