Posted by Gremlin [12.255.181.7 - 12-255-181-7.client.attbi.com] on 12 July 2002 at 02.54.15 ZuluTime:

In Reply to: Hmm posted by Jurassosaurus on 12 July 2002 at 01.23.10 ZuluTime:

There's the obvious answer to the question, of course. If there were no deities, things wouldn't change much from the way they are right now.
     In fact...that almost completely answers the question. Because we already know what happens when a presumed deity fails to exist.
     Discounting the marginal possibility that both Yhvh and Allah exist, we can say with some certainty that either Yhvh or Allah fail to exist. But: even granting the probability that at least one of these creatures fails to exist, we still have millions of people swearing with all their might [if a tiny percentage of their brains] that each exists.
     So, if there were no deities at all, I doubt much would be any different than if there were one deity, or even if every deity ever asserted to exist were real. You'd still have people believing in a given deity, and assuming that anyone not believing in it--particularly those believing in different one--were flat out wrong.
     Otherwise, you've pretty well got it. Life would be exactly as cold, scary, unfair, and temporary as it appears to be until you pretend that there's a deity out there who has some reason for it all--and which may, at its option, either let you into Valhalla or cast you into Nastrand.