Viliam’s account of a “supernatural Stalin” was in fact a strawman. It is not even equivalent to the evil God in gnosticism. The gnostics thought you were supposed to reject that God and not do what he says; you definitely would not say that he was good. In contrast, no one believes Viliam’s theory, and so it was definitely a strawman.
It is also strawmanning, although less indefensibly, to imply that modern religious beliefs are equivalent to ancient extinct ones.
Viliam’s account of a “supernatural Stalin” was in fact a strawman. It is not even equivalent to the evil God in gnosticism. The gnostics thought you were supposed to reject that God and not do what he says; you definitely would not say that he was good. In contrast, no one believes Viliam’s theory, and so it was definitely a strawman.
It is also strawmanning, although less indefensibly, to imply that modern religious beliefs are equivalent to ancient extinct ones.