Because going by what many here post, there seems to be an assumption that there's only one, so my question to them becomes why that assumption? Several thousand years ago, the assumption would most likely be "gods" instead.

My point, therefore, is to throw out a "speed-bump" whereas we stop and think where our beliefs may be coming from and what kind of evidence do we have for such beliefs. I know my reoccurring mentioning for "evidence" undoubtedly bugs some people, but I don't think encouraging people to attempt to look at other possibilities is altogether that bad. After all, are we here to see what other people think? Or, if some are here mainly to tell others what they assume is right, then maybe encouraging them to not be so certain isn't all that bad either.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

The article discusses the possibilities of a multiverse and the evidences that support that contention.

Thanks, and I'll put that on my "must read" list.

If I can name drop as well. Let me recommend "Big Bang: the Origin of the Universe" by Simon Singh and "Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos" by Michio Kaku, both authors of which are also research cosmologists. Between Susskind, Singh, and Kaku, I prefer the latter although all three are quite good.

But one of the more fascinating books I've read in years is "Judaism, Physics, and God: Searching For Sacred Metaphors In a Post-Einstein world" by Rabbi David Nelson. One does not have to be Jewish to appreciate this book, and his conclusion is VERY interesting, but I'm not going to say what it is because the book reads as smoothly as a novel, and yet it is quite up to date with what the research is indicating on the Big Bang and quantum mechanics.

Anyhow, thanks for the reply.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

I think the reason people believed in many gods in ancient times is because they didn't see any unity in nature. They thought that there would be a god for lightning, for rain, for fire, and everything else. Today we have a scientific understanding that nature is a unified whole. Everything we observe obeys the same natural laws. The ancients saw many gods doing different miracles and we see the whole as one unified miracle. If there are many gods then they must be working together in a way that they might as well be one. In short, they saw everything as divided and we see everything as united.

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"I fully comprehended the power of the human mind at the exact moment I came to the realization that I'm totally insane and have no idea what I'm talking about."

I think you bring up a very good point and one that I believe is very logical. Einstein said much the same to justify his belief that there was only one "Old Man", as he called Him.

As an interesting side, one of the things I mentioned in a Torah study session a short while back is that the belief in one deity causes a problem-- how does one explain good and bad? Polytheism has a ready-made answer-- different deities, with some being good and some being bad. But what if there's only one deity? I'm not saying there's no solution, but it is something that has plagued theist, including even modern theologians.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Well, I'm not God so I don't know the answer. The best I can do is try to put myself in God's shoes. If I was God I wouldn't make everything bad because that would just suck. I wouldn't make everything good because there would be nothing to compare it to. So, that would seem as pointless as everything being just bad and in a way would suck as much. I think I would have to choose making it an interesting mix because the bad would give meaning to the good. I think I would probably create a universe in a Goldilocks zone that is not to Heavenly and not to Hellish. I think I would probably make it just like it really is.

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"I fully comprehended the power of the human mind at the exact moment I came to the realization that I'm totally insane and have no idea what I'm talking about."