Different religions (sometimes the same religion in different times) had different conceptions of gods. There could be one or many. Creator of the universe, or merely one of its first immortal inhabitants. The most powerful of all, or just one of the many powerful ones such as fates, titans, giants… Existing outside the universe, or in the universe. Infinitely strong/smart/good, or merely very strong one and sometimes not even particularly smart or good. The one you should obey because he is the goodness itself, or simply the one you should obey because he is stronger than you.
The conception of the sole creator God outside the universe who is infinitely strong/smart/good (only limited by logical consistency and his own previous decisions) and is goodness itself, is the Christian one. Other religions may disagree. Dawkins argued against the god of the religion he was most familiar with, which was the strongest one in his country.
When you remove the “is goodness itself” part, you remove the moral reason why one should obey such god. There still remain practical reasons, if he is still the stronger one, of course. But for the purpose of the topic of this article… an unbelief in a good god implies existential horror. A god that is not necessarily good, is more likely to be evil than good. The proper response is either to fight him, or to fear the future—whether you obey him or not—because you know that he is not “aligned” with you; he does not care about your well-being, just like he does not care about the well-being of the suffering children. The god becomes just another disinterested, bored, hungry bear looking at you and evaluating you as a potential food.
Different religions (sometimes the same religion in different times) had different conceptions of gods. There could be one or many. Creator of the universe, or merely one of its first immortal inhabitants. The most powerful of all, or just one of the many powerful ones such as fates, titans, giants… Existing outside the universe, or in the universe. Infinitely strong/smart/good, or merely very strong one and sometimes not even particularly smart or good. The one you should obey because he is the goodness itself, or simply the one you should obey because he is stronger than you.
The conception of the sole creator God outside the universe who is infinitely strong/smart/good (only limited by logical consistency and his own previous decisions) and is goodness itself, is the Christian one. Other religions may disagree. Dawkins argued against the god of the religion he was most familiar with, which was the strongest one in his country.
When you remove the “is goodness itself” part, you remove the moral reason why one should obey such god. There still remain practical reasons, if he is still the stronger one, of course. But for the purpose of the topic of this article… an unbelief in a good god implies existential horror. A god that is not necessarily good, is more likely to be evil than good. The proper response is either to fight him, or to fear the future—whether you obey him or not—because you know that he is not “aligned” with you; he does not care about your well-being, just like he does not care about the well-being of the suffering children. The god becomes just another disinterested, bored, hungry bear looking at you and evaluating you as a potential food.