Why didn't more polytheistic religions survive into modern times?

by LucarioBoricua

Worldwide the world's major religions are mainly monotheistic (Christianity with all its denominations, Islam with all its denominations, Judaism and Zoroastrianism too), atheistic/agnostic (Buddhism) and only Hinduism is polytheistic in most of its denominations. What happened with all the other polytheistic religions that have been relegated to marginal positions or simply ceased to exist in practice?

Aurevir

First off, Judaism is extremely marginal as a religion, at least in the sense you're talking about, and Zoroastrianism even more so- you could drop all the world's Zoroastrians into New York City and make a pretty big enclave, but not much more than that.

Now, the big two (Islam and Christianity) are pretty heavily linked, and they pretty much comprise monotheism on the macro scale, so the question you're really asking is not why didn't polytheistic religions survive, but how did the Abrahamic religions become so dominant? One big part of that is that both have a mandate to convert, often by force, so you have Baltic polytheists conquered and enslaved and converted by the Teutonic Order, and Somali polytheists conquered by Muslim Arabs and encouraged to convert through softer coercion, and the ongoing practice of sending missionaries to spread the faith. Another important aspect was that Christianity was the primary faith of the Western European countries which had the unfortunate habit of conquering much of the rest of the world, thus giving them the opportunity to spread their religion forcibly and the superior social and economic position to spread it more voluntarily.

Now, you may ask why polytheists did not attempt to forcibly convert others? Well, a lot of that has to do with the nature of the faiths themselves. The Romans were known for simply adopting the gods of conquered peoples into their pantheon, and Hindus can worship any combination of their gods, or none at all, while still remaining perfectly true to the faith. Contrast this with the incredibly vicious sectarian conflicts within the Abrahamic religions over even the slightest disagreements in doctrine and practice. Speaking very broadly, polytheistic religions have a fair amount of tolerance for other beliefs, while monotheistic religions have none.

Searocksandtrees
Kaylaen

atheistic/agnostic (Buddhism)

Buddhism is far from agnostic / atheistic and you'd really have to specify which branch you're talking about. Early Indian Buddhism recognized all of the Vedic gods. In fact, Buddha had interactions with many of them in his past lives. You can read about in the Jataka tales.

The Jataka Tales are a series of stories detailing the Buddha's past lives. The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisattva is a particularly nice summary of them. In it you'll find the Tale of the Hare. The Buddha, in a previous life as a hare, sacrificed himself by throwing himself onto a fire so that a travelling Brahmin priest / travelling monk (depending on the telling) could eat. As a reward, one of the gods who witnessed this event cast the hare's image into the moon. That's the origin, for Buddhists, as to why there is an image of a rabbit on the moon.

Buddhas and bodhisattvas are also very deity-like. I wouldn't necessarily claim the worship of bodhisattvas, all of whom have magical powers, as atheistic / agnostic. Though that's probably more to do with personal preference and definitions. Buddhism also frequently incorporated local deities into its religion and temples. For instance, Hariti was an Indian goddess transformed into a Buddhist protector of children.

In Theravada Buddhism one of the 5 realms for rebirth (or six depending on the school) are the Asuras and the Devas. Both are gods or god-like. One can be reborn as a god in Buddhism and was the goal for some adherents. Quite a number of passages in the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya (vinaya are Buddhist law codes) deal with gods, goddesses, and rebirth as a god.

Apart from Buddhism, let's not forget the kami worship native to Japan. There's a whole pantheon, detailed in the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, with regards to gods and their relationship to the various tribes that made up early Japanese society.

Are you sure you aren't asking why polytheism never survived in a large form throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East? Because it did elsewhere.