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It depends on what you consider religion. Where in Hinduism does it state that you are only to worship Brahman? Christianity, Judaism and Islam are not the only monotheisms. I also believe in, physically, a dualistic monism- There is only one stuff, soulstuff. But that soulstuff splits off into Soul, and corrupts to Matter/Energy. This fulfills both Dualism, as people have both a physical body that is not Soul, and a Soul that is not physical. it is, however, at the core, one thing and is therefore ALSO Monism, primarily. Depending on whether you look at it from a practical perspective or an enveloping one.

I don't agree with mixing religions. It assumes that truth is subjective, and I don't think it is. If only one thing is true, then energy should be devoted to discovering what it is, instead of deciding to believe what you like in each religion. The I don't think you really have a strong conviction in anything, but are merely deluding yourself (at least that's how it is with my friend, who's a Muslim with some pagan beliefs mixed in there. She's doing it out of rebellion to her parents, and not out of any real desire to know truth stressed )

Edit: That red and blue video did this simultanously: eek rofl burning_eyes It kinda rocked.

I think that Monotheism and Polytheism can be easily mixed. Many religions have exceptions to their beliefs.

Take Christianity for example. It holds that there is 1 God. Yet many denominations worship the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as individual entities. Most denominations hold that they are all separate, yet part of a whole. There are other Christian groups that revere angels and saints as well, holding them to be Divinely gifted and just a hair lower in spiritual hierarchy from Christ, with God the Father as figurehead in every case.

In many Pagan traditions, it is held that there is the Goddess Mother of all. She is One, but she is worshiped as different entities, such as the Maiden, Mother, Crone trilogy.

Even the Romans had a belief that they had many gods to govern the different aspects of their life, but all of those gods were believed to be beholden to Something higher.

Polytheism is just a natural way for humanity to break down the overwhelming concept of a Creator Who has the control of all. Monotheism is just humanity's way of bringing it all back together.

In the end, I think everyone would have come to their own conclusions, if there were no religions to try to "guide" us. I don't believe that anyone is truly practicing a religion when they are trying to modge-podge them together, but I don't believe taking the tenants that you believe from each religion to form the basis of your faith is bad. Faith and religion are 2 different things.

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An illustration of this can be had from my own children. One who is 8 now, and one who is 3. I have never really forced religion on them because I feel that it is too restricting, yet I talk to them everyday about God.

I don't tell them what I believe, I ask them what they believe. They could tell me about things that they feel is right and wrong, they know there is a greater force in nature that created everything, and set natural law. They don't judge and they accept people as they are without judgement.

My oldest is starting to want more answers, but he already has a solid foundation for what he believes, his faith doesn't need a name, but he is ready to put a name to it. My 3 year old tells me things everyday that brings me back to what I feel most religions have lost, just as my oldest did when he was her age.

They will decide what religion, if any, that they want to belong to when they are older. I will never think that they are without God, if they do not choose a religion, when their faith in a Creator is so strong.

The truth is objective, but what if that truth is made up of the viewpoints of the various religions, with all of them being partially right? If you connect the partially right parts, you find truth.

for example, with the red balloon.

"The balloon is red and a cube and filled with water."

"The balloon is green and round and filled with ice."

"The balloon is black and star-shaped and filled with air."

Well, what if you think the balloon is actually red, round and filled with air? Are you a heretic to all of the options given? Or are you taking the correct parts and leaving the falsities for the truth?

Honestly, trying to "mix" religions because you want an element of x is kind of silly since almost every religion has a variety of traditions that incorporate elements classically considered to be a features of another.

If you are a Christian and believe in reincarnation or animism, you don't have to "borrow" it from Hinduism, various forms of Origenism already had it.

I'm a Christian, but I have a lot of Hindu tendencies. I've read an essay by a theologian who is both a Buddhist and a Quaker.

I think religious is ultimately about understanding God, and each religion has a unique approach to understanding God. I think it's okay to draw from other faiths. I like the Hindu expression of a multi-faceted God, which it why I identify so strongly with it, but my beliefs are Christian at the core.

I agree that there are many religions with which this doesn't work, but there are some with which there's no issue. One can happily be a Wiccan and an Asatruar, for example. It will depend on how the religion is defined, how it's practised and the opinions of the gods or spirits involved (if applicable).