Definitely been done, though. There are lots of fantasy worlds where divine beings are objective fact, which is often directly experienced by protagonists. AFAIK in those cases, the claim by in-universe atheists tends to be that those are just powerful beings, not gods, which kind of seems like a distinction without a difference to me.
Though it does become philosophical. What IS a “god”, and if we accept these beings as gods, should you worship them? Are they worship-worthy, and are they going to punish people who refuse to worship them? The last part is kind of independent of whether they’re really gods, even a powerful being who is literally just a mundane human (e.g. a king) can still make your life hell if you refuse their demands.
AFAIK in those cases, the claim by in-universe atheists tends to be that those are just powerful beings, not gods, which kind of seems like a distinction without a difference to me.
It is likely that there is a bunch of divine baggage that is being rejected, including obligation to worship and inplications of divinity expmaining a bigger impact on the world than they actually have.
Definitely been done, though. There are lots of fantasy worlds where divine beings are objective fact, which is often directly experienced by protagonists. AFAIK in those cases, the claim by in-universe atheists tends to be that those are just powerful beings, not gods, which kind of seems like a distinction without a difference to me.
Though it does become philosophical. What IS a “god”, and if we accept these beings as gods, should you worship them? Are they worship-worthy, and are they going to punish people who refuse to worship them? The last part is kind of independent of whether they’re really gods, even a powerful being who is literally just a mundane human (e.g. a king) can still make your life hell if you refuse their demands.
It is likely that there is a bunch of divine baggage that is being rejected, including obligation to worship and inplications of divinity expmaining a bigger impact on the world than they actually have.
Thor vs alah or being omni potent