Idk. If there were gods, which one is correct seems like it'd be a pretty important question. I wouldn't want to worship Beelzejuice Voorhees the Head-Chomper.

Idk. If there were gods, which one is correct seems like it'd be a pretty important question. I wouldn't want to worship Beelzejuice Voorhees the Head-Chomper. Of course, killing people because they privately worship the Head-Chomper is probably too far, unless they're actively chomping (your?) heads. Also, Beelzejuice isn't real. But principles like human rights and freedom are worth fighting for, and necessary to sometimes fight for (or else we're all screwed)— Beliefs, certainly, if not anthropomorphized as "gods". Also, religions are a pretty strong indicator of social in-groups and out-groups. If you removed the gods from some religious wars, they'd probably still be fighting each other over skin color, language, ethnicity, culture, social ties, Adidas vs. Nike preference, external political goals, land use, water contamination, domestic political pressures, fishing rights, economic disenfranchisement, etc. Theology may help divide and rationalize it, but control over resources and power are pretty concrete motivations for creatures that have to worry about starving/dying, and gods are a proxy for that. Scarcity begets conflict. GDP per capita is ~$900 in Gaza, ~$350 in Afghanistan, ~$5,000 in Omsk. Doubt many would willingly sign up, or accept being conscripted, to murder unbelievers if they were more sure about having warm meals and meaningful works to cherish. Doubt NASA engineers would be "capable of flying a remote vehicle on a literally other planet" if they were busy scrounging for physical necessities. Even Bin Laden introduced his 2001 statement by referencing the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire and its effects on people. Kirill may talk of the "Antichrist", but what Putin wants is Sevastopol. I think it's reductive to just say "we also kill each other in large numbers over whose god is correct". We kill each other for a variety of reasons, usually fear of ourselves being killed, and sometimes we bring gods into it but it's very rarely, if ever, the sole reason.