What kind of religion are hinduism,judaism, and shinto?
Rush Limbaugh is a bit off, as usual! Hinduism is more of a constellation of religious, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs than a single religion. Some forms are polytheistic, others are monotheistic, but rarely in the same inflexible sense that Christianity and Judaism are. Those who are monotheistic tend to look at “God” in a more abstract form, one who is also manifested in the form of “lesser” gods — therefore they are not only tolerant of the polytheistic forms but often participate in worship of those manifestations. I would say that the vast majority of Hindus (meaning working class or poorer, mostly in rural/ village settings) are polytheistic in outlook, though they often have a particular deity they adhere to, sort of like a “patron deity”. The tendency to a single, all-encompassing being came later in Hinduism’s history, beginning with the Upanishadic phase, and was at first largely restricted to the more ‘academic’ holy men. They spawned several intensely philosophical s
