ABSTRACT
Structural beliefs, beliefs that are independent of time in the sense that they are seen as true always, are the basis of most religious systems. They may be simple, but their influence can usually be found in all the components of a religious system, and especially in the nature of the gods, if any, that are represented in the religious system. Religious beliefs display diversity over the extent to which deities are seen
as anthropomorphic, the extent to which their properties are counterintuitive, in how many deities are recognised, in whether they are materially represented and in the psychological characteristics attributed to them. Within this diversity, most (though not all) entities that are recognised as deities have interfered or have the ability to interfere, directly or as intermediaries, with the course of events in a way that matters to people: they are to be distinguished from most non-religious entities, like fairies, that have no such ability (but see p. 53). Most deities are seen as having, just like humans, ‘Theory of Mind’, that is, they understand the intentions of individuals and are able to discern those intentions without error (Boyer, 2005). In this chapter we discuss the diverse characteristics of deities and how individuals maintain a degree of cognitive consistency between their secular and religious worlds.
