Many tribal religions are polytheistic in that they have belief in many gods. Religions such as Christianity and Islam are monotheistic in that they assert that there is only one god and specified prophets. Social reformers such as Christ and Mohammed themselves never claimed that they were god or the only representatives of god. Self-seeking priesthood in most religions, with intent to establish its hegemony, distorted the values preached by all faiths, and divided society. Hindu priesthood converted castes based on profession to birth, made a section of society untouchable, and introduced exploitative customs.
Christian priesthood claims superiority and entices the poor of other faiths to conversion.
In the epic poem Gita revered by many western scholars, the godhead Krishna says that whenever injustice and exploitation becomes unbearable, I will come again and again. He came again as Christ, Mohammed, Sikh gurus and other social reformers, and in the twentieth century as Gandhi. Most of them were not accepted in their lifetime. Now at the turn of the millennium, the survival of society depends upon their preaching. Hinduism and Bahai faith are thus truly secular.