The gods of the ancient world were rarely conceived of as “moral”; they were above the trifling concerns of human morality. The gods of Mesopotamia and Egypt were savage and brutal; their primary interest in human beings was as slaves to their whims. The Greek gods were capricious, vain, entitled beings who toyed with humanity for sport. Yahweh is a jealous god who regularly demands the wholesale slaughter of every man, woman, and child who does not worship him alone. Allah is a martial deity who prescribes an array of draconian punishments—in this life and the next—to those who oppose him.
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