Peter:
>
> The parallel goes more like this:
>
> The Malkioni do not deny the existance of the Sun, it is up
> there for everyone to see. However some benighted savages
> delude themselves into thinking it a god and by their worship
> make those delusions manifestly real. But these delusions
> have no higher existance unlike the Invisible God and his
> Saints...
Counter-qualification: the sun is a natural phenomenon, shedding light and heat, because the Invisible God wills it that way. Then there is the spirit/demon/false god who has tricked the benighted savages that _it_ is the sun.
As described for example in What the Wizard Says in GoG, "Lesser cultures derive magic from otherplanar entities such as spirits or false gods".
It is much easier to explain multiple viewpoints if it is the nature of phenomena which differs rather than the existence.
Besides, demon-worshippers are a lot more fun as enemies of the righteous than deluded fools.
> The above is likely to be true for the well-educated Malkioni.
> Lower down the social spectrum, the malkioni are more likely
> to be credulous about the existance of gods.
While the lower classes are probably more likely to dance around the golden calf, the educated ones are more likely to have knowledge of other lands and the otherworld with its spirits and false gods. So I think they have little reason to doubt their existence, but the more reason to deny them any divinity.
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