Ahriana Platten - New Thought-Unity Dr. Ahriana Platten is founder-executive director of In Good Faith, leads Unity Spiritual Center and speaks around the country on the topics of interfaith and intercultural understanding. There are many ways in which the Holy is expressed through religion; god/goddess, trickster/truth, compassionate guide/strict judge. Polytheism is a belief in many gods rather than one. On some level, we may all have a bit of polytheistic influence. This polytheistic view is our way of understanding a complex concept of Source that shows up in our cultural stories with a variety of faces and purposes. When I was in India, a temple monk shared that Hindus have more than 30,000 gods and goddesses yet believe in one supreme being from which the others emerge. His explanation widened my understanding that one can be both monotheistic and polytheistic. I see polytheism as a valid step on the path of spiritual exploration.Â