The phrase false god is a derogatory term used in
Abrahamic religions (namely
Judaism,
Samaritanism,
Christianity, the
Baháʼí Faith, and
Islam) to indicate
cult images or
deities of non-Abrahamic
Pagan religions, as well as other competing entities or objects to which particular importance is attributed.[1][2][3][4][5] Conversely, followers of
animistic and
polytheistic religions may regard the gods of various monotheistic religions as "false gods", because they do not believe that any real deity possesses the properties ascribed by monotheists to their sole deity.
Atheists, who do not believe in any deities, do not usually use the term false god even though that would encompass all deities from the atheist viewpoint. Usage of this term is generally limited to
theists, who choose to worship some deity or deities, but not others.[2]
Overview
In
Abrahamic religions, false god is used as a derogatory term to refer to a
deity or
object of worship besides the
Abrahamic god that is regarded as either illegitimate or non-functioning in its professed authority or capability, and this characterization is further used as a definition of "idol".[2][3][4][5][6]
The
vast majority of religions in history have been and/or are still polytheistic, worshipping many diverse deities.[14] Moreover, the material depiction of a deity or more deities has always played an eminent role in all
cultures of the world.[1] The claim to worship the "one and only true God" came to most of the world with the arrival of Abrahamic religions and is the distinguishing characteristic of their monotheistic worldview,[3][14][15][16] whereas virtually all the other religions in the world have been and/or are still
animistic and
polytheistic.[14]
In the Hebrew Bible
The
Tanakh refers to deities from other neighboring cultures as shedim (
Hebrew: שֵׁדִים),[17] possibly a
loan-word from
Akkadian in which the word shedu referred to a spirit which could be either protective or malevolent.[18][19][20] They appear twice (always plural), at
Psalm106:37 and
Deuteronomy32:17. Both times it is mentioned in the context of sacrificing children or animals to them.[21] When the
Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the Hebrew term shedim was translated as daimones, with implied negativity.[17] This gave rise to a dualism between native spirits of the own religion's God, and the spirits of foreign origin as demons.[22]
Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the
Unknown God of the
Gospel, the father of
Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God.[23][24][25][26] In the
Archontic,
Sethian, and
Ophite systems,
Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who sinned by claiming divinity for himself and generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he
created.[27][28][29]
However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent.[26][30] For instance,
Valentinians believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as good as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness.[26][30] All Gnostics were regarded as
heretics by the
proto-orthodoxEarly Church Fathers.[23][24][25][31]
Alternatively, ṭāġūt may refer to idols, sometimes thought to be inhabited by one or more
demons.[36]: 210 Muslims don't necessarily deny the power of demons within the idol, but deny that they are worthy of worship. In the Kitāb al-ʾAṣnām ("Book of the Idols"), the
Arab Muslim historian
Ibn al-Kalbī (
c. 737–819CE) tells how
Muhammad ordered
Khālid ibn al-Walīd to kill the pre-Islamic Arabian goddess
al-ʿUzzā, who was supposed to inhabit three trees. After cutting down all the trees, a woman with wild hair appears, identified with al-ʿUzzā. After battle, she is killed, and thus al-ʿUzzā considered to be defeated.
Similarly, the Arab Muslim geographer
al-Maqdisī (
c. 945/946–991 CE) wrote about
Indian deities (known in Middle Eastern folklore as dīv), asserting that they have the power to enchant people, even Muslims, to worship them. A Muslim is said to have visited them and
abandoned Islam. When he reached
Muslim land again, he returned to his Islamic faith. The power of idols is not limited to enchantment alone, they could even grant wishes.[37]
Other similar entities are the shurakāʼ ("partners [of God]"), whose existence is not denied, however their relation to God is. They are regarded as powerless beings, who will be cast into
Hell after the
Day of Judgment, along with evil jinn and fallen angels turned
devils (shayāṭīn), for usurping the divine nature.[38]: 41
^Although the
Semitic godEl is indeed the most ancient predecessor to the Abrahamic god,[7][8][11][12] this specifically refers to the ancient ideas
Yahweh once encompassed in the
Ancient Hebrew religion, such as being a
storm- and
war-god, living on mountains, or controlling the weather.[7][8][11][12][13] Thus, in this page's context, "Yahweh" is used to refer to God as conceived in the Ancient Hebrew religion, and should not be referenced when describing his later worship in today's Abrahamic religions.
^
abcdAngelini, Anna (2021). "Les dieux des autres: entre «démons» et «idoles»". L'imaginaire du démoniaque dans la Septante: Une analyse comparée de la notion de "démon" dans la Septante et dans la Bible Hébraïque. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism (in French). Vol. 197.
Leiden and
Boston:
Brill Publishers. pp. 184–224.
doi:10.1163/9789004468474_008.
ISBN978-90-04-46847-4.
^Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses. Judika Illes. HarperCollins, Jan 2009.
p. 902.
^The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology. Rosemary Guiley. Infobase Publishing, May 12, 2010.
p. 21.
^W. Gunther Plaut, The
Torah: A Modern Commentary (Union for Reform Judaism, 2005), p. 1403
online; Dan Burton and David Grandy, Magic, Mystery, and Science: The Occult in Western Civilization (Indiana University Press, 2003), p. 120
online.
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Arendzen, John Peter (1908). "
Demiurge". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Nünlist, Tobias (2015). "Zur Liminalität: Die Dämonen als Grenzwesen". In Nünlist, Tobias (ed.). Dämonenglaube im Islam. Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East (in German). Vol. 28.
Berlin and
Boston:
De Gruyter. pp. 192–246.
doi:
10.1515/9783110331684-007.
ISBN978-3-110-33168-4.
^Elias, J. J. (2014). Key Themes for the Study of Islam. Vereinigtes Königreich: Oneworld Publications