Amie

I disagree with this statement. I do not feel that believing in God it takes away from living the lives we do. I still try to help out other humans, I care for people. I do not do the things I do as some sort of bargaining chip for heaven. Whether one believes in God or not does not take away from living for the human race...

Sole Controller why do you feel we would have to be weaned away from God before we can live for the human race?

Ojuice5001

I suppose it is only human to want to create your own destiny. But for me it's different. I would much prefer for the decision to be made by someone else, with myself only having a sort of veto power to refuse an undesirable destiny. I think it's an unusual assumption of modern culture that this is an undesirable thing. And I suppose I was questioning this.

Sharur is the main character in Between the Rivers by Harry Turtledove. In this book, the gods of Mesopotamia exist and are absolute monarchs of the various city-states. But in Sharur's city, Gibil, humans have more freedom than in other cities, and Sharur does whatever it takes to keep it that way, including an act of deicide at the end. Atheists might well like this book; I enjoy it aesthetically, but think it sends all kinds of wrong messages about gods.