I imagine all these questions are only made worse in stories that have more than one pantheon around, with none of them being any stronger than the other.
I recall one such setting for a tabletop RPG that didn't just have the various pagan/polytheist pantheons like the Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Voodoo (and its related religions), Hindu, etc., but also tossed in the ethical religions in their realm of Elysium. So you had Christian, Muslim, and Jewish saints and angels (with the angels having to pretend that nobody from the other religions had made it to Elysium). And Buddhist buddhas and bodhisattvas, Taoist immortals, and a variety of figures from mostly forgotten religions like Zoroastrianism.
The author got around any inconsistencies by stating that none of these were REAL gods (or God), they were just what people thought they were like. Which usually meant going with the nastiest interpretation possible "for dramatic reasons". At least he was even-handed in his scorn.
I imagine all these questions are only made worse in stories that have more than one pantheon around, with none of them being any stronger than the other.
I recall one such setting for a tabletop RPG that didn't just have the various pagan/polytheist pantheons like the Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Voodoo (and its related religions), Hindu, etc., but also tossed in the ethical religions in their realm of Elysium. So you had Christian, Muslim, and Jewish saints and angels (with the angels having to pretend that nobody from the other religions had made it to Elysium). And Buddhist buddhas and bodhisattvas, Taoist immortals, and a variety of figures from mostly forgotten religions like Zoroastrianism.
The author got around any inconsistencies by stating that none of these were REAL gods (or God), they were just what people thought they were like. Which usually meant going with the nastiest interpretation possible "for dramatic reasons". At least he was even-handed in his scorn.
Oh yes. That will get its own post
I'm looking forward to reading it.
You could also try gods as egregores.
That's a topic for another post .