Demea’s problem is going to be that having got himself to an utterly mysterious deity, he cannot reap any consequences. You can check into the Mysterious Mist, if you so wish, but you cannot check out carrying any more than you took in with you. Religious belief, reduced to its respectable core, turns out to be completely inert. It has no consequences.
Then atheism is also inert, having no consequences. But one would not say of suicide bombers that their religious beliefs have no consequences. Perhaps the key word here is “respectable”, echoing Saint-Exupery’s prescription, “Respect for humanity.”
