Mulahad, arabic for “atheist” (Image license: CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sometimes when people state their reasons for not believing in a personal God, it makes me wonder how arbitrary these can be.

A good example is this quote from Timothy Leary:

Monotheism is the primitive religion which centers human consciousness on Hive Authority. There is One God and His Name is ______ (substitute Hive-Label). If there is only One God then there is no choice, no option, no selection of reality. There is only Submission or Heresy. The word Islam means “submission”. The basic posture of Christianity is kneeling. Thy will be done.

from The Intelligence Agents (1996)