The claim of a religion to represent universal and eternal truths is always betrayed by the particularities of its origin. Taking Christianity as an example -- the God revealed --as opposed to the one proclaimed -- is willing to see his son tortured as a part of a propaganda event -- an event as cheaply sensationalist as something which might be devised by the proprietor of a struggling travelling circus. God is also, evidently, a gambler -- counting on the credulity of the age -- for what were the chances that his 'one-shot miracle' would be believed on the basis of such limited and unlikely evidence? Finally, God makes salvation the equivalent of holding a lottery ticket -- he cares nothing for the millions of souls born too soon, or the millions born into other cultures, in inconveniently distant locations. The God revealed -- a cruel, unjust, capricious, speculator-promoter-publicist -- is scarcely fit to manage a corner convenience store, much less a universe. (Observation #513)