If we read the whole quote, we see that this intended meaning pertained to interfaith dialogue. That stands both at the beginning and at the end of the paragraph, framing everything in between. In fact, the “language” analogy suggests precisely that Pope Francis was talking about dialogue. There was no imputation to any truth-claim to each religion. The critics merely read that into the speech, as they are primed to see Francis as a religious indifferentist.

religious ideas contend that a non-physical Consciousness called God was in a good mood at one point so he and it usually is a he created 01:27:18 physicality the material world around us thank you so in those viewpoints Frameworks you're not allowed to ask who or what created God because the answer will be well he 01:27:35 just is and always was so have faith my child and stop asking questions like that [Music] religion or Mythos of materialism philosophy you are not allowed to ask 01:27:46 what created physical energy if you do the answer will be the big bang just happened it was this energy in a point that just was and always will be so have faith my child and don't ask questions 01:28:00 that can't be answered

FloodGate’s attendance soared as members of other congregations defected to the small roadside church. By Easter 2021, FloodGate was hosting 1,500 people every weekend.

during the First Temple period: the Hebrew Bible tells of numerous places of worship dedicated to Yahweh outside Jerusalem, including those founded by Joshua (Joshua 8:30), “the people” (Judges 21:4), Samuel (I Samuel 7:17), King Saul (I Samuel 14:35), King Jeroboam (I Kings 12:26-33), David (II Samuel 24:25), and Elijah (I Kings 18:32).

Reshef was believed to have been is far from certain. He may have been a god of fire (Song of Songs 8:6), a storm god (Psalms 78:48) or a god of pestilence (Habakkuk 3:5). 

people had guessed based on his name that he was a god of grain (Hebrew: dagan) or fish (Hebrew: dag), but these are no more than guesses.

This was a very ancient god already worshiped extensively in Ebla (southwest of Aleppo) in the 23rd century BCE. He was later adopted by the Philistines as a national god.

In ancient times, it was common for towns to be named for the town’s main shrine and the tutelary deity worshipped therein. Thus many of the towns and cities mentioned in the Bible, even those said to have been home to Israelites, have the names of foreign gods embedded in them.

“This is what the Lord says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6).

The Bible also recounts that the ancient Hebrews worshipped a god named Moloch, who was associated with the Ammonites and with child sacrifice. This worship too was stamped out by Josiah in the same reform (e.g. 2 Kings 23:10).

Jericho was probably at some point a center for moon worship. The city's name in Hebrew is "Yerikho"; and the Hebrew word for the moon is Yarekh, which other West Semitic languages use as the name of the moon god.

It is likely that Beit Shemesh was a center of sun worship since the place name literally means “House of Sun.”

Legends of a storm god such as Ba’al defeating the sea are very common in the Ancient Near East.

Mot, the personification of death, is described in several passages as a deity. In Job 18:13 he is said to have a son, and in Habakkuk 2:5 we are told he opens his mouth wide and swallows souls.

Dagon’s father was El, the head of the West Semitic pantheon. The name Israel, shows that El was originally the tutelary god of Israel (it’s right there in the name!), but over time, Yahweh took El’s place:“When the Most High (El Elyon) divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's (Yahweh’s) portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:8-9).

How is it that evangelical Christianity has become, for too many of its adherents, a political religion? The historian George Marsden told me that political loyalties can sometimes be so strong that they create a religiouslike faith that overrides or even transforms a more traditional religious faith.